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THEO ASKECES PECTURES:-IN 
COMPARATIVE RELIGION 





EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 





THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 
NEW YORK 


THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
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THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI 


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SAKYAMUNI 


(Japanese painting of the Kano School, sixteenth 


century.) 


Nr) ai ee raed” 
OCT 17 1924 






EPOCHS IN BUDDH 
HISTORY 


THE HASKELL LECTURES, 1921 


By 
KENNETH J. SAUNDERS 


Author of “The Story of Buddhism,” “Gotama Buddha” 
Editor of “The Heart of Buddhism,” “The Buddha’s Way of Virtue” 
Professor of the History of Religion, Pacific School of 
Religion, Berkeley, and Lecturer in the 
University of California 









A 





a, YY “lt es 


roy 






THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO ILLINOIS 


CopyRIGHT 1924 By 
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


All Rights Reserved 


Published January 1924 


Composed and Printed By 
The University of Chicago Press 
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 


INTRODUCTION 


That Buddhism is a stream which has its source in the 
complex and elusive system of Brahmanism known today 
as Hinduism; that it is rightly called by the name of 
Gotama Buddha, the great moral reformer of the sixth 
century B.c. because he shaped its course and purified 
its waters; that as the stream flowed in an ever widening 
bed out over the Eastern World, tributaries poured into it 
from every side, swelling, coloring, and sometimes defil- 
ing it—all this is generally accepted. This book is an 
attempt to describe that remarkable process; and as in 
the case of the great sister-religion, Christianity, it is 
difficult to say anything which does not need qualifica- 
tion. The tributaries of both religions are many and 
diverse, and the streams are very complex. In Buddhism, 
in the first place, there are several philosophical systems, 
ranging from a naive realism to a subtle mystical panthe- 
ism, and all claiming to be derived from the words of 
Sakyamuni. The person of the Founder has, in the second 
place, played a widely different rédle in different schools, 
from that of an ethical teacher, “supernormal perhaps 
but not supernatural,” to that of supreme god among the 
gods. In the third place, the moral reform for which 
he is so justly famous has been variously interpreted, as 
different emphasis has been placed now upon one and now 
upon another part of his teachings, until the Buddhist 
world finds itself divided between the ideals of a 
self-centered, individualistic mind-culture, on the one 
hand, and a passionate, altruistic self-sacrifice, on the 
other. 


vii 


Vill INTRODUCTION 


Such is the destiny of great and complex teachers; 
and it is my purpose in this book to show how the noble 
qualities which he embodied have led almost inevitably 
to a polytheistic cult, as the stream has found its way into 
other lands, and first one then another was emphasized 
and embodied in a new “god,” and to trace its course and 
the tributaries which have entered it. To put all this 
into more Buddhistic imagery—the lotus of Buddhism 
has grown apace; its seeds have germinated and borne 
rich fruitage. But some have been pollinated from 
plants of another species, producing hybrids, and some 
have germinated in desert swamps, becoming weeds. In 
describing this process it is not my object to criticize or 
to discriminate between the true and false growths. That 
must be left to the Buddhist world. My task is merely 
that of a sympathetic chronicler; yet it is my sincere 
desire to help Christian and Buddhist scholars toward 
a friendly and frank discussion. I belonged for some time 
to a group representing many religions in India; and 
many were the delightful evenings we spent without heat 
or conscious propaganda, learning one another’s point of 
view and growing, as we all believed, in the process. 
I remember the great Buddhist scholar, Oldenberg, com- 
ing into our midst and saying: “I did not know such a 
thing was possible.’ It zs possible, and it ought to be 
done in every intellectual center in the world;’ indeed, 
the mutual respect and understanding of the nations can- 
not be based upon rock until numerous groups of this 
kind are meeting in an honest attempt to study the great 
streams which have made our civilizations what they are. 

To scholars of the West and of the East I am deeply 
indebted, but it is to the East that I have naturally turned 


* A very interesting group of this kind, numbering over a hundred, meets in Tokyo. 


INTRODUCTION 1X 


for my information, and today there are Eastern scholars 
trained in the scientific methods of the West who yet 
see Buddhism from within as adherents. Among these 
I would mention with special gratitude my teacher in 
Ceylon the Pundit Wagiswara and my friend, Dr. M. 
Anesaki, whose name is justly revered wherever Bud- 
dhism is studied. And with them I would thank the 
courteous and genial monks of many a monastery from 
Ceylon to Japan, whose guest I have been. In these 
quiet haunts I have caught something of the spirit of 
the great and noble Order of the Yellow Robe, which, 
in spite of perversions, has shown an amazing power of 
recovery. 

And of the thoughts which have come to me during 
twelve years’ study of the religion of Gotama Buddha, 
I will here set down by way of introduction these: (1) 
that the great keynotes of our modern scientific thinking, 
causality and the unity of the universe, even if Gotama 
did not first formulate them, were popularized by him; 
and that this is one of the most remarkable achievements 
in the history of human thought; (2) that the conviction 
which rings through his words of a moral purpose govern- 
ing the universe, of the sure reward of good and evil, is 
even more sublime; (3) that his anticipation of modern 
psychological theories deserves close and respectful study; 
(4) that his “religion,” the influence of his words and 
deeds, is still very much alive, and still supplies a felt 
want in Asia; (5) that with all its accretions and corrup- 
tions it still has much to teach the Western World; (6) 
and that what men have made of it is eloquent of what 
they are made of: for its rationalism has needed to be 
reinforced by mysticism; its moral code has been driven 
to seek other sanctions than the enlightened common sense 


x INTRODUCTION 


he appealed to; and the devotion he strove to disentangle 
from his own person has clung tenaciously to it. 

What Buddhism has become is to Christians a vindica- 
tion also of many of the teachings of Jesus—the Father- 
hood of God, the brotherhood of man, the harmonizing 
of the individual and corporate life in a divine Kingdom 
on earth: and, even more remarkable, it is a vindication 
also of some of the less simple and more controversial of 
the dogmas of Christianity, such as the Logos doctrine, 
the triune nature of the Godhead, and the Atonement. 

The Buddhist, on the other hand, may see in some of 
the more philosophical and mystical expressions of Chris- 
tianity a Buddhist element; and this is true—that there 
are in Christianity elements which are not much under- 
stood or used by the Christian church, but which are the 
very breath of life to the devout Buddhist; such, for 
instance, as the doctrine of the unity of all life and the 
practice of communion with it. The followers of the two 
Ways have every reason to associate in friendship and to 
unite in social service. They are both faced with 
immensely difficult problems of social and international 
relations. I hope this book? may in some measure be a 
bridge between them. “They who have lived with the 
eternal Word are Christians—even though we call them 
atheists.” And the spirit of Christ can only pass between 
us who call ourselves by his august Name and our Bud- 
dhist friends, if we are trying to understand and to respect 
one another. ps 


BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 
Easter, 1922 
«Cf. Dr. Anesaki in Hibbert Fournal, IV, 9. 


2 Much of the contents of this book was given as Haskell Lectures in the Univer- 
sity of Chicago in 1921. Chapter vi has appeared in the fournal of Religion and Appen- 
dix I in the International Review of Missions. 


3 Justin Martyr. 


CONTENTS 


PI STORV NOTE GUE rt he Rerre CM raiT Mae N Ui a ghar {ips ye! KET 
CHAPTER 
TPERATACAH AS THE AVAIDDLE PATH gibi gio ago ahi bit) ables I 


II. PATALI-PpUTRA; THE SPREAD OF THE DHAMMA AND Its 
DAVEGUARDING Wurm nr aye n aula diy yal ates lings) t 20 


III, GanpHARA AND PurusApurRA; THE BirtHoF MAHAYANA = 47 
IV, NALANDA; THE Earty SCHOOLMEN oF THE MAHAYANA 70 


V. MInInTALE, ARIMADDANA, AND SUKHOTHAI; FASTNESSES 
OF THE THERAVADA IN CEYLON, BuRMA, AND SIAM . 105 


VI. LoyAnc, Cuanc-An, T’1EN T’at; BupDHISM IN CHINA . 120 


VII. Keum Kanosan, NAra, Hie1san, Koyasan; BuDDHISM 


TOMS OREAVANOD PAP ANG MOTI CeCe ENNGA My uiah mgt iM) pty oO 
VIII. SvAyaMBHU-NATH AND LHAsa; BuppHism In NEPAL 
ANDAR me Tannen mcm Sy EL NAT Lai ali abd gh) tad NOL GS 
APPENDICES 
DE AATITANLINELEANR AM UY Maal Ne ittW) leo ulee le ie ramueht 
II. Some Bupputist PRAYERS AND Vows... . . .. 216 
III. Synonyms or NIBBANA AND NIRVANA . . . . . 22! 


IV-VI. Cuarts oF THE Buppuist ScHoots or Inp1a, Cuina, 
De AR ANISM mn iR Sn As Mea lat MD MALL Maas Pasa) 229 


INDEX ® e e s e ° ° ° ° . ° e ° e ° e e 227 


xl 


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ye lee ce Wiss fi! 
“Al's sy ae tg a. 
bv eta a UALy 


4 





PREFATORY NOTES 


I. THE TERMS HINAYANA AND MAHAYANA 


Much confusion exists as to the great divisions of 
Buddhism, and the terms, “Southern and Northern,” 
“Hinayana and Mahayana,” are all used generally, but 
quite inaccurately, to describe the primitive and the 
developed forms of this very complex religion. Many 
writers who condemn the Mahayana as heretical naively 
use its contemptuous name Hinayana for the orthodox! 
The following scheme may prove helpful as an indication 
of the theory worked out in this book. 

1. The teachings and example of Sakyamuni are the 
original Buddhism (560-480 B.c.). All schools claim to be 
true to the Founder and his Precepts, and we are depend- 
ent upon their interpretations and records. It is the task 
of critical scholarship to edit these, and to separate the 
various strata within the books. It is impossible, except 
in rare cases, to be sure which are ipsissima verba of 
the Founder, but of his main tenets there is little 
question. 

2. They were not written down for some centuries, but 
preserved in the memory of the monks, who very soon 
began to differ in the emphasis placed on certain great 
doctrines, yet continued to live side by side in the same 
monasteries, and to comment upon the traditions, agreeing 
to differ as to the letter and the spirit. 

3. A great popularization of the Buddhist ethic took 
place in the Asokan era (250 B.c.), and the layman 
gained a new significance as the note of service was struck, 
and a Buddhist world-order envisaged. 


Xili 


XIV PREFATORY NOTES 


4. A less austere Buddhism began to make itself felt, 
and to call itself Mahayana (Great Way), labeling the 
more stoical way Hinayana (the Narrow Sect or Way) 
and accusing it of losing the spirit of the Founder. The 
followers of this way are represented best by the 
Theravada (School of the Elders) of Ceylon, and in my 
opinion the early criticism of the Mahayana that they were 
too aloof is justified; they neither attained Arhatship 
about which they centered their lives, nor appreciated 
the nobler ideal of the Bodhisattva. 

5. In the Mahayana there are differences not only 
of ethical and philosophical interpretation but of Bud- 
dhology; its stages may be connoted by the following 
terms: (a) the Halfway Mahayana (ca. 50 B.c.-S0 A.D.); 
(4) the Paradise Mahayana (ca. 100 a.D.); (¢) the Full 
Mahayana (ca. 100-400 A.D.). 

6. The philosophical schools of the last-named which 
flourished from about 100 A.D. to about 400 A.D., or from 
the 4vatamsaka Sitra to the Yogacara, are concerned with 
the nature of Reality, and tend for the most part toward 
monism, though with many differences of emphasis. 

7. The various schools are harmonized by Chi-i and 
others in China (sixth century A.D.) in a pantheistic realism. 

8. In the later Mantrayana (ca. 700 a.D.) this philos- 
ophy is further developed and made the basis for a 
sensuous polytheism and a magic cultus, degenerating at 
last into Tantric or Sakta Buddhism. 


II. THE NATURE OF MAN AND THE PHENOMENAL 
WORLD 


1. For primitive Buddhism the doctrine of transiency 
is cardinal; this is expressed by two words: anatta, anicca. 
Anatta means that man is an ever changing stream of 


PREFATORY NOTES XV 


consciousness without substantial entity; yet it is taken 
for granted that he is free to choose the direction in which 
this stream shall flow. The term anicca as applied to the 
phenomenal world indicates that this also is a continual 
process of change without abiding entity. The doctrine 
of Karma is taken over from Hinduism, and the causality 
of the universe is recognized, but a Causa causans is ignored. 

2. The Hinayana schools have their own interpreta- 
tions of these doctrines; some are realist, some idealist 
(see Appendix IV). A Causa causans is denied. 

3. The Madhyamaka school of Mahayana carries on 
the process of analysis, and teaches that all phenomena are 
unreal, or have only a relative reality; the life of man is 
either a dream or a total illusion. 

4. The Yogacara school finds a Causa causans in the 
evolution of the Alayavijfidna or receptacle of conscious- 
ness, which contains all human minds and all phenomena, 
and is responsible for the illusion of separate existence. 

5. The comprehensive schools of T’ien-t’ai and others | 
find an indwelling Absolute, the Tathata, which gives | 
reality alike to the noumenal and phenomenal. This | 
culminates in: 

6. The Mantrayana doctrine of Adi-Buddha or First 


Cause. 
III NIBBANA AND NIRVANA 


Nibbana is the Pali word used by early Buddhists, and 
should be kept to distinguish their view of the ultimate 
goal alike from that of contemporary Hindu teachers, 
and that of the Mahayana: for these views the Sanskrit 
Nirvana may be used. 

Of Nibbana two interpretations are to be recognized: 
(1) that of primitive Buddhism, which places the emphasis 
upon the dying-out of the flame of Tanha, or craving, and 


XVI PREFATORY NOTES*™ 


indicates that with this the transient world of Samsara 
comes to an end in an ineffable state of calm, cool joy 
beyond human categories; (2) that of the Hinayana school- 
men of a later, more negative, age who tend to place less 
emphasis upon the ethical content, and at times teach that 
it is the cessation not merely of becoming but of being. 
They differ little in fact from the annihilationists whom 
their master condemned. 

Of Nirvana similarly there are various interpretations: 
(1) that of some parts of the Upanishads, which think of 
it as a waking-up to the fact of the substantial unity of 
the soul, or atman, with the supreme Atman, or Brahman; 
(2) that of the Mahayana, which rejects the negative 
interpretation of the Hinayana, and regards Nirvana as a 
permanent supreme Reality, blissful and serene, though 
ineffable. Some schools interpret it as a life of conscious 
union with the universal Buddha, and some as the awaken- 
ing of the true Buddha-self in the human heart. (For 
synonyms see Appendix III.) 


IV. THE WAYS TO NIBBANA AND NIRVANA 


Inasmuch as the Buddhist schools differ mainly as to 
the way to Nibbana, or Nirvana, as it is called in Sanskrit 
Buddhism, the outline given above may be amplified as 
follows: 

a) The Founder, conceiving himself as the Seer of 
Reality, teaches both the Arhat ideal of strenuous self- 
realization by way of detachment, and the Bodhisattva 
ideal by way of service. The goal in either case is Nibbana 
—the end of Tanha and of Samsara—the only Absolute 
recognized in early Buddhism. The Founder may also 
have made a distinction between Pacceka Buddha (soli- 
tary, reticent Buddha) and Samma-sam-buddha (per- 


PREFATORY NOTES XVil 


fect Buddha who teaches). These distinctions are all 
based upon phases of his own experience; he had been 
Arhat but “out of pity for the world” remained to teach 
it; i.e., he refused to be Pacceka Buddha, but became 


Buddha, fulfilling his true Bodhisattva nature. He seems | 
himself to have made little distinction between Buddha, \ 
Bodhisattva, and Arhat. They are all “in Nibbana”’; 


i.e.,in them Tanha and Samsara are at an end; but the 
Bodhisattva remains on earth or in a heaven to help 
mankind and all living things. 

6) As the teachings of the Founder were systematized 
by the monastic Hinayana commentators four stages 
are to be distinguished: 

1. The stage of the Savaka who is either (a) Sotapanno, 
i.e., one who has set his feet upon the upward path, or 
“entered the stream”; (4) Sakadagamino, i.e., one who 
has made such progress that he will only be once more a 
man and will then attain Nibbana; (c) Anagamino, i.e., 
one who attains Nibbana “without returning”; (d) 
Arhat, he who is already free, having broken the bonds, 
and is already in Nibbana. 

2. The stage of the Pacceka Buddha, iec., a fully 
enlightened Buddha who keeps his knowledge to himself. 

3. The stage of Bodhisattva, who is potentially both 
Arhat and Buddha, but who prefers to help all sentient 
things. , 

4. The stage of the Buddha, who, having reached full 
and complete Nibbdana, is the source of truth and the guide 
to all. : 

c) Though he does not use the words, Asoka in all his 
services to his people and in his interpretation of the 
Dhamma emphasizes the Bodhisattva rather than the 
Arhat ideal. He is regarded by the Theravada as an 


oad 
" 


XVIll PREFATORY NOTES 


upasika or lay-adherent, and his works of civilization as 
by-products. 

d) Halfway or incipient Mahayana carried on this 
Bodhisattva tendency, but recognized in deference to the 
more austere members of the Sangha that Arhatship is 
one way to Nibbana—even if no one now achieves the 
goal. Faith in the Buddha begins to supplement and 
to supplant works. 

e) The Full Mahayana of the “Lotus” (ca. 100 A.D.) 
roundly declares that there is only one way, that the 
Buddha has destined all to Buddhahood, and only by his 
“skilful strategy’? accommodates truth and speaks of the 
ways of Savaka, Pacceka-Buddha, and Bodhisattva. In 
this Mahayana is probably nearer than Hinayana to 
original Buddhism. 

Ff) The Paradise Mahayana, agreeing in theory that 
Buddhahood or Nirvana is the goal, offers to ordinary 
folk the alluring vision of the Paradise of Amitabha as 
more easily reached and more satisfying, and develops a 
progressive emphasis upon faith rather than works as the 
way of salvation. 

Vv. BUDDHOLOGY 

Side by side with this shifting of emphases went on a 
growing Buddhology which may for schematic purposes 
be expressed as follows: 

1. The Teacher proclaims himself the “Elder Brother 
of Mankind,” supernormal but not supernatural; he 
ignores any supreme God, and teaches that the gods of 
his people are unable to help, being themselves in bondage 
to Karma and Samsara. 

2. He is variously regarded by the monks of the 
Hinayana as (a) an omniscient Teacher, source of all 
truth (Theravada); (4) a supernatural Being, not subject 


PREFATORY NOTES XIX 


to human passion (Mahasanghika); this is the germ of 
later Mahayana teachings. 

3. The Asokan laity regard him as one of several 
Buddhas and pay worship to his symbols; this they call 
“worshiping the Lord” (cf. Asokan sculpture). 

4. The early Halfway Mahayana represents him as a 
God surrounded by adoring Bodhisattvas and other 
beings (cf. Gandharan sculpture). 

5. For the Full Mahayana of the “Lotus” he is the 
almost Eternal Lord and Father, one of many Buddhas 
whom he now supersedes. 

6. For the Paradise Mahayana of the Sukhavati Vyitha 
he disappears behind the eternal or semi-eternal Amitabha, 
and in the Amitayur-dhyana Sutra points to him. 

7. For the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools he is 
an embodiment more or less real of the Dharmakaya. 

8. For the 4vatamsaka he is one of innumerable forms 
in which the primeval Buddha Vairochana is manifest. 

g. For the Mantrayana he is an emanation of the 
self-existent Adi-Buddha. 


The abbreviation B.N. refers to Dr. Bunyiu Nanjio’s 
Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, Oxford, 1883; S.B.E. 
to the Sacred Books of the East; B.T. to Warren’s 
Buddhism in Translations; E.R.E. to the Encyclopaedia of 
Religion and Ethics; P.T.S. to the Pali Text Society; 
F.R.A.S. to the Fournal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 





CHAPTER I 


RAJAGAHA; THE MIDDLE PATH 
The Differentia of the Buddhist Reform (ca. 525 B.C.) 


“He that seeth the Dhamma seeth me.” “That there is effective action, 
resultant action, and power within to do this or that, I, even I, proclaim.” 
“As the ocean has but one flavour so my teaching has but one essence— 
deliverance.’ “Engineers control the stream: the wise controlleth 
himself.’ “Of all that springs from causes the Tathagata has explained 
the cause.” —SAKYAMUNI. 

The country of Magadha is famous in Indian literature 
for its beauty and fertility. On the east side of its ancient 
capital, Rajagaha, the King’s House, is a natural rampart 
of five wooded hills, to which from time immemorial have 
gathered the religious teachers of India; and thither they 
still come, followed by eager pilgrim crowds, wist- 
fully seeking peace and comfort. To these hills with 
their wooded slopes and bare cliffs, honeycombed with 
hermitages, came the young Siddhartha about the middle 
of the sixth century B.c., seeking guidance, and here some 
nine years later he began his work as a reformer of the 
religion of India, and as her greatest moral teacher. 

It is not difficult to picture the young reformer whose 
story has been so often told:* lonely at first, subject to 
periods of depression at the stupidity and inertia of those 
about him, repelled as he ate the first meal of scraps 
thrown into his begging-bowl, but gathering courage and 
inspiration as disciples began to attach themselves to 
him, and to help him formulate the rules of a new religious 
order. We may think of them during the rains in peace- 


tT have tried to retell it in a biographical sketch, Gotama Buddha. New York: 
Association Press, 1921; London: Oxford Press, 1923. 


I 


Fd 


2 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ful retreat upon these hills, gazing down upon the fertile 
plains of the Ganges Valley, or gathered about him on 
the bare Peak of the Vulture that rose clear above the 
wooded slopes, and pouring out in that serene air a paean 
of thanksgiving and joy in their new-found liberty of mind 
and peace of soul. 

As swans who soar in tracks of sunlit air, 

As sorcerers in realms of space are free; 

So does the sage win through to mastery 

Of Mara, and the transient world’s despair. 

In order to give them this liberty, however, the new 
teacher first convinced them of the universality of law. 
Before they could be free in the universe they must realize 
that it is lawful to the core. This was a truth already 
accepted in theory,’ but men were ignoring it in practice. 
Among the first of the converts were two Brahmins, 
Moggallana and Sariputta, and from the story of their 
conversion we gather how large a part the mind played 
in the new Way, and how central in it was the doctrine 
of causality, which has been well called its keynote.’ 
These men had been companions and fellow-seekers in 
the religious life. Like their fellow-Hindus they must 
have been familiar with such teaching; accepting the axiom 
that life is evil and that Karma brings rebirth they were 
seeking Moksha, freedom from the whole process. Meet- 
ing a Buddhist monk and struck by his calm and radiant 
bearing, Sariputta learned the essentials of the truth in 
these simple words: 


Of all things springing from a cause 
The Buddha hath the causes told: 
Of how they all shall cease to be, 
This, too, our Teacher doth unfold. 
tE.g.,in the Samkhya-Yoga; cf. Keith’s Samkhya and Philosophy. Oxford Press, 
1921. 
2M. Anesaki, Nichiren, p. 138. 3 Mahavagga i. 23. 4, 5; B.T., pp. 87-91. 


RAJAGAHA 3 


It is difficult to believe at first sight that this doctrine 
became to so many a real gospel. Even if they had not 
heard it from their own religious teachers, was it a truth 
sO emancipating § ? The answer seems to be twofold: 
first, that it is one thing to know a doctrine, another to be 
gripped by it, and to meet men who are radiant with it; 
and second, that this is what Sakyamuni achieved. Byer 
today men orphaned in the world of faith find in it, as he 
popularized it, a gospel of salvation; there are groups of 
European Buddhist monks, for instance, to whom it has 
given a new meaning in life. Familiar with it as science, 
in him they find it as religion! And to men haunted by 
the idea of capricious deities, on the one hand, and beset, 
on the other, by determinist teachings of a monistic philos- 
ophy, here was a great new conviction that the universe 
is orderly, and that man is free to shape his own destiny. 
Here is a practical and vital truth: “Put aside these 
questions of the beginning and the end. This is the 
Dhamma—that being present this must follow; from the 
rising of that this arises. That being absent this does not 
come into being. From the cessation of that this too 
ceases.”* Here is reality speaking. Gotama has been 
called atheist, even by many of his own later followers. 
However this may be, he made here a notable contribu- 
tion to an ethical theism; his serene faith in righteousness 
and in the reality of unseen, intangible values may be 
called religious; and we may well believe that knowing 
his people and their genius for religion he believed that 
he might safely leave them to work out a religious inter- 
pretation of this law of causality. What was wrong 
with most of them was that they were in the bondage of 
superstition; before they could become truly religious they 


1 Majjhima Nikaya 79. 


4 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


must learn to think of the world as a cosmos of ordered 
sequences, and not a chaos at the mercy of capricious 
demons or demigods. Until they were free from such 
vague fears, on the one hand, and from the fatalism of 
determinist theories and a vague pantheism, on the other, 
there could be no true morality or religion; and to give 
them a sound basis for faith he bent all the energies of his 
great mind and heart. Thus we find him welcoming all 
who were ready to accept the doctrine of causality, for 
example, the Jatilas,, and dealing severely alike with 
determinist teachers who failed to moralize it, and with 
those who sought by self-mutilation or foolish asceticism 
to placate the powers of the unseen world.’ 

Let us picture this courageous son of fact with his 
disciples grouped about him on the Vulture Peak, or some 
similar height. For twenty-five centuries Buddhists have 
sought the mountain tops, and these are still the fastnesses 
of the Dhamma. Master and disciples sit calmly meditat- 
ing, and after the Indian manner they wait for him to 
speak. At last a smile lights up his face, and he points 
to where a peasant is carrying his burden of fagots down 
from the hillside: “Listen, O monks.” ‘Speak, lord.” 
“T will teach you the parable of the burden and its bearer, 
_ of the taking of it up, and the laying of it down.” He 
then proceeds to show that the burden is bodily existence, 
that the bearer is the individual consciousness, that the 
taking-up of the burden is Tanha, that craving to be and 
to have which brings man to rebirth, and that the laying- 
down of the burden is the putting aside of such craving. 


' Mahavagga i. 21; B.T., p. 351. They were fire-worshipers of a very intelli- 
gent kind. 


2In Majj. Nik. 71, Gotama is made to say: “In ninety-one cycles of rebirth I can 
remember only one naked ascetic having attained toa heaven. And Ae held the doctrine 
of the fruits of actions.” 


RAJAGAHA 5 


And then that they may the better remember it, he sings 
them a little gatha or hymn: 
This body is of Khandhas made, 
"Tis man this burden bears. 
Oh! with what joy aside ’tis laid, 
Tis taken up with tears.* 


And all the company, having already experienced some- 
thing of the joy of laying aside this burden,’ rejoice with 
the teacher who has shown them the way. So did Pilgrim 
rejoice when the load fell from his shoulders. And if it 
be objected that here was a poor materialistic “gospel,” 
the Buddhist replies: “It is not materialistic: for of the 
five Khandhas four are not material: Vedana, feeling; 
Safina, perception; Vinfhana, consciousness in general; 
and Samkhara, a complex including will, attention, faith, 
and other conative groups.” 

We may imagine another typical scene. The master 
and his disciples are seated calm and collected on Gaya 
Head, a hillside near the spot where he attained enlighten- 
ment, when a fire breaks out in the jungle below; they 
watch it blaze, and then he begins once more to improve 
the occasion: “All, O monks, is aflame: eye, ear, nose— 
all the organs of sense. All nature is aflame. What is 
the cause of this universal conflagration? It is Tanha.’’ 
Hate, lust, infatuation—these are the flames. Then, in 
order that he may help them in their task of teaching a 
world to extinguish the blaze that is destroying it, he 


1 Samyutta Nikaya, B.T., pp. 159-60. This little parable was not unnaturally 
misunderstood in later days, the Sammitiya school interpreting it to mean that man is 
something more than the Khandhas which make up his “burden.” (See Poussin, 
E.R.E., Vol. XI, Sammitiyas, and note his indorsement of this review as “a good and 
truly Buddhist one.’’) 


2 Though still carrying this burden of bodily existence they had got rid of the 
intolerable obsession of rebirth and of Tanha. 


3 Mahavagga i. 21; B.T., pp. 351-53. 


6 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


gives them a new and different chant, a dirge that still 
resounds mournfully in a thousand monasteries: 


Sabba dukkha, 
Sabba anatta, 
Sabba anicca. 


Sorrow is everywhere, 

In man is no abiding entity, 

In things is no abiding reality. 
The conflagration, in a word, is to be extinguished by the 
waters of logic. Face life as it is, sorrowful, transient, 
and you will no longer crave for it. If the doctrine of 
causality is the keynote of the Buddhist metaphysic, the 
doctrine of anatta is the unique thing in its psychology. 
And both doctrines are applied with an ethical purpose. 
Like Hume, two thousand years later, Gotama with 
remorseless logic analyzes the “self” into its component 
parts. He seeks to get rid of the “ego” of animism in 
order that he may get rid of the ‘“‘ego” of egoism. The 
“self” is unreal because it is compound. Analyze it, and 
see that it is a stream of consciousness made up of elements 
of sensation, of cognition, of volition, and you will realize 
that there is no “soul” in the ordinary sense of a separate 
entity or “substance,” such as that which only a century 
ago men of science in the West were trying to weigh and 
to locate. Nor is there even a “‘substratum” in which 
qualities inhere. Much less is there an atman, such as 
some Hindus conceived in almost physical terms, an in- 
dwelling microcosm identical with the macrocosm or Brah- 
man. To believe that is to sacrifice moral freedom; 
and Gotama knew that this is more vital than even 
intellectual consistency. ‘The self is real enough, because 
it is a manifestation of Kamma, energy or action, and it is 


™ Buddhaghosa, the great commentator, says authoritatively that the Buddha ana- 
lyzed man into the five Khandhas “to afford no foothold for animism.” 


RAJAGAHA ; 


free, in spite of the past, to direct its energies aright in the 
present. “Self,” says the Dhammapada, “is custodian of 
Sling 

Out of the seeming pessimism of this philosophy of 
transiency emerges a sane optimism, as is beginning to be 
recognized by Western writers. Buddhism insists on 
Dukkham, sorrow, in order that it may show men the 
way to Sukham, happiness: “One thing only do I teach, 
O monks—sorrow, and the uprooting of sorrow.” Over 
against the world of birth and death, of Samsara, it sets the 
unchanging calm of Nibbana, beyond joy and sorrow, 
yet often known as the Supreme Bliss. All religions, as 
William James has pointed out, are alike in having as their 
basis an uneasiness and its solution. Gotama has his own 
solution to offer. “He is a physician; if medicine is pessi- 
mistic then he is a pessimist”; says the Buddhist, “having 
diagnosed the disease he goes on to prescribe its cure.” 

Even when he wielded the knife it was to cut out the 
roots of sorrow, and man learned to kiss that strong yet 
kindly hand. The early Sangha was therefore a happy 
company; there was “something vernal in the air,” and 
at times a contagion of joy can be seen to pass from these 
monks and nuns to the people about them. They were 
in the presence of a beloved leader; they had attained to 
a vision of the unity and lawfulness of the universe so that 
they were no more afraid; they believed that they were 
seeing life steadily and seeing it whole, and they had a 
' purpose great enough to claim their whole energies—to 
lead the world out of confusion and superstition and fear 
into a serene peace; out of the transient flux and confu- 
sion of becoming to the ordered calm of being. Above all 
they believed that they would not be reborn to sorrow, 
and the old obsession was gone forever. Let the student 


8 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ponder the Psalms of the Early Buddhists* and he will 
find himself responding to their joy. This is another hall- 
mark of the originality of early Buddhism. Much in it 
was ordinary Hinduism; its spirit was all its own. 

During his lifetime it is clear that Gotama encouraged 
them to put their faith in the Dhamma, or teaching. Like 
most of the terms he used this was one familiar to his 
countrymen, but as was his wont he redefinedit. Hitherto 
it had meant the abiding social order, norm, or standard; 
divorcing it from its connection with social sanction he 
proclaimed it as the truth of individual existence. Believ- 
ing that his own enlightenment was a discovery of uni- 
versal law or order, that all life is a unity, that a moral 
purpose is at work in it, he saw his task as that of a teacher 
of these truths. In this lay one of the great secrets of 
his success; while others seemed to be dealing with vague, 
intangible things, here was a positivist who insisted upon 
facing life as individual men and women have to live it, 
and in whose words there rang the sturdy conviction 
which comes from personal experience. Men began to 
say of him, “He knows knowing, sees seeing; he is the eye 
of the world; he has become knowledge . . . . has become 
truth .... it is he who teaches us, who reveals the 
hidden truth, who pours out good and gives immortality; 
he is the lord of Dhamma.’”? 


He hath discerned all this life o’ the world, 
In all the world the how and thus of things, 
From all detached and leaning upon naught, 
Who all hath mastered, from all bonds is loosed: 
Touched is for him high peace and blessed calm 
Where no fear cometh more. 
*C, A. F. Rhys Davids, Translation of Theratherigathd, 2 vols. London: P.T.S., 
Ig0g, 1913. 
2In Samyutta, P.T.S. Ed. xiv. 94 f. it is also stated that he is “son of Light, of 
Wisdom, of Brahma. .... fe 
3 Mrs. Rhys Davids’ rendering of Ang. Nik. ii. 24. 


RAJAGAHA 9 


What, in other words, makes him Buddha is that he 
has found the Dhamma, and having been true to it and 
identified himself with it proclaims it to the world. In this 
identification lies the seed for the Buddhology of later 
ages. The Tathagata, “he who has reached reality,” 
gives place to the Tathata, reality itself. 

Meantime it is clear that for the first generation of , 
disciples he was primarily an ethical teacher, and that he 
aimed at showing men a middle path of splendid sanity. 
This is the central thing in his ethics. If they differ from 
those of orthodox Hinduism it is in their moderation. 
While the body must be kept in subjection, it is both vain 
and painful to torture it, as he and countless others in 
India had done. On the other hand, family life, and life 
in the world in general, is a life of confused issues, and 
though it is not impossible to master one’s self while living 
in the world,’ it is far easier and safer once and for all to 
cut out these roots, and to join the monastic order. Yet 
he provided for a “third order” of lay-people, and there ¢ 
are a score of these upasikas mentioned in the early books, 
who are said to have won Arhatship; of them it is claimed 
that they had destroyed Tanha, had cut the bonds of 
rebirth, and realized in this world and in the midst of it 
an other-worldly peace and joy. In the midst of Samsara 
they had been in Nibbana. Like Brother Lawrence they 
could practice, while immersed in mundane occupations, 
an other-worldly peace. And this was to them the 
guaranty that they would not be reborn. They found 
themselves masters of the universe, not its slaves. 

What did this doctrine of rebirth mean to the 
Buddhist ? All the world is now familiar with the Hindu 

* Hundreds of householders are said to have attained to one of the heavens. 


2 See “‘Arhat,” Z.R.E., Vol. I. 


10 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


doctrines of Karma and transmigration, already estab- 
lished in the time of Gotama Buddha: 


Our actions still pursue us from afar 
And what we have been makes us what we are. 


By the sixth century B.c. India accepted the doctrine 
that each atman is reborn into the state it has earned. 
But even highly qualified students of Buddhism seem to be 
greatly befogged as to how this doctrine can be reconciled 
with the Buddha’s cardinal doctrine of anatta. If there 
be no “‘soul”’ to transmigrate how can there be transmigra- 
tion? Here is a dilemma indeed; and the solution lies 
of course in the definition of the terms. Transmigration 
is not what Gotama taught, but rather reindividualization 
or, better, a continuation of the ever changing stream 
of consciousness in a new channel.t A man is not the 
same as he was when a boy. Yet he 1s not different. 
After death he will be the same yet not the same, as a 
river whose content, ever changing, yet remains within the. 
self-same river-bed. Asa kinema film which through many 
minute changes tells a connected story of many reels so 
are rebirths continuous yet not identical. 

Sakyamuni was primarily a moral teacher, and yet he 
had a definite psychology and philosophy. He was neither 
a realist in the ordinary sense, naively accepting the current 
phraseology and ideas of the time, nor a nihilist as some 
of his followers have been. ‘“‘Everything is; this is one 
extreme view. Everything is not; this is another.” He 
rejects them both. The “‘self,” he insists, is a part of 
the whole phenomenal world, and must be seen through 
scientific or analytic eyes. The old static ideas of it must 
give place to a dynamic conception. It is this individual 


? This is the actual metaphor of scholastic Buddhism; cf. Compendium of Philos- 
ophy, P.T.S., p. 8. 


RAJAGAHA II 


“stream of consciousness” which changes from moment 
to moment, that 1s “reindividualized”” when the body 
dies. The change may be more profound; it is only 
another change. 

The best discussion of the whole question from the 
orthodox Buddhist standpoint is in the Questions of King 
Milinda,* a late work of fiction yet of great authority. 
The man who is reborn, teaches the sage Nagasena, is 
neither the same nor yet another. Nothing “substantial” 
has passed over any more than when one lamp is lit from 
another—only energy. There is a transference of energy 
between the two flames. One is responsible for the 
other. Ifaspark from my house sets fire to my neighbor’s 
thatch, am I not responsible? A man steals his neigh- 
bor’s mangoes, but he cannot fool the judge by proving 
that the mangoes he took are not the same mangoes as his 
neighbor planted; so by numerous similes and parables 
the lesson is enforced, and it seems logical enough: 
Kamma, action, is the energy which passes over from one 
phase of consciousness to the next. But there are diffi- 
culties. What, if nothing but energy passes across, is 
the thread of continuity ? What are the links between 
one life and the next? They are the same as those 
between two consecutive moments of our conscious 
life here and now. Among the senses Buddhist psy- 
chology numbers Mano, which is at once a sixth sense, 
and the “resort, the partaker, the field, and range of them 
all,”*—a sensus communis. It is certainly easier to con- 
ceive this link between two consecutive phases of the 
present stream of consciousness than to imagine it connect- 


1J.e., Menander, an Indo-Scythian prince of about 100 B.c. See chap, iii. 


2 Majj. Nik. i. 295; Sam. Nik. v. 218; quoted by Mrs. Rhys Davids in Buddhist 
Psychology, p. 69. 


12 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ing what seem like two different lives, and we are apt to be 
impatient with this part of Buddhist philosophy. 

Perhaps it will help the western reader to tolerate the 
doctrines of Anatta and Samsara if he thinks of the 
unexplained, yet well-attested, fact of telepathy. If one 
mind can influence another through great spaces, why not 
imagine that the same mind may be influenced by its own 
past energies or phases of consciousness, and even kept in 
action by its own psychical momentum, even when the 
physical organ which it used has been dissolved into its 
elements? Reindividualization may begin at once. 

All the habitual arguments by which we buttress our 
belief in a life after death can be equally well used to 
support the Buddhist doctrine of Samsara; and we have 
to pay our respects to the early psychologists of Buddhism. 
One of the qualities of consciousness on which they lay 
stress is Manasikara, or attention,’ and this is another 
link between present and past: we direct our stream of 
consciousness and determine its direction hereafter as we 
attend now to this or that range of interests. Another 
link is memory,’ that deposit or undercurrent of the stream 
which may be out of sight and forgotten, but which yet 
exerts a potent influence. The past, however forgotten it 
may be, is wrought into the present, and operates in ways 
which surprise us only because of our forgetful memories. 
But the saint remembers everything! Near these very 
hills of Rajagaha the great disciple Moggallana was foully 
murdered. Calmly the aged teacher, who seems (perhaps 
half-humorously) to have claimed something very like 
omniscience, related the story of how untold centuries 
before Moggallana had been an impious son and a parri- 


* Cf. Majj. Nik.; quoted in Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Buddhist Psychology, p. 97, and 
many passages of the Abhidhamma. 


2 Sam. Nik. xil. 15. 


RAJAGAHA 13 


cide, who, disguised as a bandit, had killed both mother 
and father. Thus, in his present rebirth, saint and Arhat 
as he was, it was possible, nay necessary, for bandits to 
murder him. As for them they had not long to wait 
before reaping the harvest of their sin. For the king of 
Magadha, a genial despot and a great champion of 
Buddhism, buried them up to their navels and then 
set fire to them, after which (though it seems rather a work 
of supererogation) he ploughed them into the soil. 

Deeds done in envy or in hate, 

Deeds of the fool infatuate, 


Must bear their fitting punishment 
Till Karma’s energy be spent. 


In such homely ways, by adopting folklore and adapting 
it, by snatches of song, and by astonishing claims to re- 
member his own past existences, and those of everyone 
else, did Gotama bring home to his disciples the lessons 
of Karma and rebirth. And today the simplest peasant 
in Buddhist lands thinks inevitably in terms of these 
two doctrines. They are the very warp and woof of the 
thought of millions who are proud of them and confident, 
as one said to me, that “they explain the inequalities of 
human life very nicely.” 

At the same time they long to escape to some state 
where these laws no longer hold sway, and the teacher 
having enforced these lessons—the ubiquity of the harvest 
law, ‘““as a man soweth so shall he also reap,” and the 
inevitableness of Samsara—went on to show a way of 


salvation: 
As some poor sufferer in prison pent 
From year to weary year is racked by pain, 
Longs for release and cannot find content, 
But ever pines and chafes against his chain; 


2 See B.T., p. 221. 


14 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


So do thou see in each succeeding birth 
A prison full of untold misery! 

Seek to shake off all chains that bind to earth 
And from existence evermore be free. 


Who is the freed man? It is he who has snapped the 
fetters of ignorance, pride, egoism, lust, hatred—the 
Arhat—who ‘“‘knows that rebirth is exhausted, that he 
has lived the holy life, that he has done what he had to 
do, and is no more for this world.” That is the stock 
description. He is one who has replaced ignoble craving 
by noble desire—one, in other words, who longs not for 
rebirth, even as a god, but who longs for the end of rebirth, 
for Nibbana;? one indeed who has already attained, and 
has realized his true “self.” Arahatta and Nibbana are 
usually synonyms, and in such early works as the “‘ Psalms 
of the Brethren” Arhats are “‘no less Buddha and Tatha- 
gata than their great master.”4 What then is Nibbana ? 

This doctrine is the pons asinorum of the learned. It 
is still gravely debated and strangely misrepresented. 
Does it mean annihilation? “Yes,” says Gotama, “the 
annihilation of Tanha, of sorrow, and of rebirth.”5 Does 
this not involve annihilation of the “‘soul?”’ “How can 
that be annihilated which has no existence?’ Does the 
Arhat in whom craving is annihilated, sorrow and rebirth 
ended, Nibbana reached—does he continue to exist? 
“That,” says the Buddha, “is not your affair. Your 
business is with morality.’® Could anything be plainer— 


t From the Fataka: Heart of Buddhism. Oxford Press, 1916. 


2 B.T., p. 137 The Arhat is described in more technical language as one who 
has “entered the Fourth Path,” “broken the ten fetters,” etc. 


3 Cf, idid., p. 333- 

4C, A. F. Rhys Davids, Psalms of the Brethren, p. xxii. 

§ Cf, S.B.E., Vol. XIII; Mahdvagga vi. 31. 7. 

6 Cf. Sam. Nik. ii. 223, and Majjhima Nik. 63; B.T., pp. 117-22. 


RAJAGAHA 15 


or less satisfying to the inquiring mind? But Gotama is 
content, as it seems to me, having himself had a mystic 
experience of peace and joy beyond description, to show 
others how they too may attain, and to leave it at that. 
Not the least admirable thing about him is his reticence. 
What if he has opened up alluring vistas, and then kept 
silence ? He has only done what all the Mystics must do: 


Oh could I tell ye surely would believe it! 
Oh could I only say what I have seen! 

How can I tell and how can you receive it, 
How till he bringeth you where I have been ? 


The highest truth is “ineffable,’* above all relativity, 
as Buddhist schoolmen later spent themselves to prove, 
and though he was not an agnostic in most things, yet like 
all men (except spiritualists) he was necessarily an agnostic 
as to details of the life after death. But in this life he 
could show them how to enjoy the Nibbana of a quiet 
conscience, and of a mind at rest. And though he was 
not a Mystic in quite the usual sense, Gotama was of that 
august company: he could not describe the goal, but he 
could show the way to it; and like other Mystics he 
became very definite here, and gave to the world his 
famous Eightfold Noble Path. Before we examine this, 
let us note here that his refusals to be more definite were 
interpreted by Buddhist philosophers in later days as 
denials,? and that much of the confusion which exists as 
to his teaching is due, as Max Miiller showed fifty years 
ago, to a confusion between the teachings of Gotama 


Cf. Dhp. 218. Nipuna, abstruse; apalokita, unlike this world; anidassana, 
invisible, are synonyms. 


2 Poussin has shown that the doctrine of annihilation is clearly taught in the 
Tripitaka, but holds that it was not the teaching of Sakyamuni who indeed calls it a 
heresy. The Visuddhi magga calls it a “‘pestiferous delusion.” Cf. “Nirvana,” E.R.E., 
Pp» 378. 


16 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


and those of the schoolmen of later days. ‘‘What Bishop 
Bigandet and others represent as the popular view of the 
Nirvana in contradistinction from that of the Buddhist 
divines was, if I am not mistaken,” he wrote in 1869, 
“the conception of Buddha and his disciples.”’ It was 
a great forward step to distinguish between the doctrine 
of the Founder and that of the later schoolmen, and in the 
following year Childers wrote as follows: ‘“‘The word 
Nirvana is applied to two different things; first to the 
annihilation of existence, which is the ultimate goal of 
Buddhism, and, secondly, to the state of sanctification, 
which is the stepping-stone to annihilation, and without 
which annihilation cannot be obtained.’* That later 
Buddhists have used the word in both these senses is 
clear, and yet Dr. Rhys Davids? is surely right when he 
insists that the Founder laid all the stress upon the ethical 
process of sanctification, and refused to answer, except 
in baffling terms, when men pressed him about the con- 
tinued existence of the saint after death. He seems indeed 
on occasion to have indicated that both the annihilation- 
ists and the eternalists are wrong, for both are following 
vain speculations. And yet to many scholars it seems 
clear that he did himself sow the seeds which developed 
into the doctrine of annihilation; is not his basal doctrine 
of anatta such a seed? Andis not the whole phraseology 
of “blowing out,” “uprooting,” “killing the germ of re- 
birth,” open to misinterpretation °* Yet we have always 


t Tribner, Literary Record, 1870. 


2 Dr. Rhys Davids takes a middle course between Burnouf and J. d’Alwis, who 
are supporters of the nihilistic interpretation, and some who interpret Nibbana as a 
kind of paradise. 


3Cf. B.T., p. 138; Sam. Nik. ili. 109; Points of Controversy, pp. 32, 62: “The 
Blessed One would never say that on the dissolution of the body the Arhat is annihi- 
lated.” 


4 Cf, J. d’Alwis’ reply to Max Miller, Buddhist Nirvana. London: Tribner, 1871. 


RAJAGAHA 17 


to remember that the records which we possess are the 
work of later monastic schools and that what their 
Founder really said is inevitably colored by their own 
beliefs. 

Probably we shall never be able to answer these 
questions finally; what is clear is that two things are 
explicitly stated in the canonical books, and in the ortho- 
dox Milinda Paitha to be implied by the term ‘“‘Nibbana,” 
first the extinction of craving, and second the extinction 
of the process of becoming. The first is the means to 
the second, which is the end. It is well to make a careful 
study of the synonyms which the Buddhist uses to describe 
what this ideal means to him." It is called santi, peace; 
mutti, freedom; it is sitibhutam, the coolness that allures 
the pilgrim of a world in flames; it is the dipam, or 
island to which he passes from the waters of samsara; 
it is saranam or lenam, a refuge from this fleeting show of 
things; and more negatively it is amatam, that which is 
not dead; acchuta, that which is not dying; akuto-bhaya, 
a fearless state; and above all it is tanhakkhaya and 
dukkha-kkhaya, the destruction of craving and of sorrow. 
This is the essence of Buddhism, and in many places occurs 
the saying: “As the great ocean has but one flavor, so 
my doctrine and discipline has but one flavor, that of 
deliverance from suffering.” In at least one passage this 
deliverance is defined as bhava-nirddho, the cessation of 
becoming. But this is not necessarily the same as 
annihilation; and indeed the Mahayana soon made 
Nirvana a synonym for the Absolute; it is the Ultimate 
Reality. And if negatives are used to describe it no less 
are they used in the Upanishads to describe the Atman, 
the One and Absolute. ‘Neti, Neti,’’ not so, is the final 

t See Appendix III. 


18 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


word in either case, as in all attempts of mystics to define 
what they experience. 

To those who pressed the question: “Does this cessa- 
tion involve annihilation?’ Gotama seems sometimes to 
have replied that this is not a question which is of practical 
importance, that it does not concern the holy life, nor 
lead to insight; but at others he flatly condemned the 
annihilationists as heretics. And if we who are not 
Buddhists cannot conceive how a stream of thoughts, 
emotions, and volitions can persist ““when Karma’s energy 
is spent,” the modern Buddhist may quite fairly retort: 
“What is your own doctrine of the soul or self, here and 
hereafter?” If we refer to the psychologists, they will 
be found in some cases at least to agree with Gotama that 
the thinker and the thought are one, and yet that we are 
free to believe in, even if we cannot imagine, an existence 
of this “self” after death. And if we turn to the moralists 
they may well reply with Emerson and Gotama: “Of 
immortality, the soul when well employed is incurious. 
It is so well that it is sure that it will be well.’”? And 
Sakyamuni was first of all a moral teacher—a physician 
of sick souls. | 

Yet this statement needs safeguarding. Above the 
“details of mere morality”—important as they are— 
he valued his own mystical experiences, for morality must 
have an authoritative foundation. If the Buddhist can- 
not say: “Thus saith the Lord,” he can and does say: 
“Thus hath the Buddha told us, and he is King of the 
Dhamma. Has he not experienced truth? Is he not 
himself the Truth ?” 

And the Teacher himself bids men praise him, not for 
his moral teachings, but because he has “‘realized and seen 
for himself other things, profound, subtle, hard to realize 


RAJAGAHA 19 


and to understand, yet sweet and tranquillizing.”* “He 
has found the birthless incomparable Yoga-calm of 
Nirvana.”? And this is beyond the sphere of reason 
.... felt or experienced only by the wise. In a word, 
he is an authoritative moral Teacher in virtue of his own 
deep mystical experience. His citizenship is in heavenly 
places. And out of this other-worldly spring come the 
wide waters of his benevolence. All sentient life is one— 
all are companions in the Great Quest, for all are fellow- 
victims in the toils of Samsara. 

Gotama’s ethical system is intimately connected with 
his more philosophical teaching. It is clearly and closely 
related to the Hindu systems of his day, and indeed to 
moral systems everywhere—a fact which still kindles a 
naive surprise in many minds. The interesting thing in 
it is rather that it differs from all other types of ethical 
theory. Though the Buddha did not deny the existence 
of the gods,3 yet he appeals to no divine sanction but 
rather to an enlightened self-interest. The man who 
harms another is a fool, for he also harms himself. Vice 
brings unhappiness as the shadow follows the body. 
Happiness is the bloom upon virtue. Let each man be a 
friend to himself and he will be happy; altruism is really 
an enlightened egoism. 

Here, then, is no “‘thus saith the Lord” of the Hebrew 
prophet, and no appeal even to social sanction. The 
“eightfold path” is a moral discipline for the individual, 
and makes its appeal to the reason. It begins with “‘right 


1 Cf. Dialogues, I, 26, and Anesaki, ‘‘ Buddhist Ethics,” E.R.E. 
2 Bad i Dai h30s 


3 Gotama seems to have accepted the gods of the Pantheon of his contemporaries, 
and Brahma in particular engaged his attention; but all were in bondage to Karma 
and Samsara. 


20 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


opinions,” for the Teacher realized as few have done that 
all good or evil begins in the mind, and that people can- 
not act aright unless they first think aright; and the most 
popular summary of his moral teachings condenses his 
ethic in a sentence: “Flee evil, set about doing good, 
cleanse your inmost thought.” Beginning then in the 
mind, the Noble Path is a carefully graded ascent passing 
on to right aspirations, right speech, right acts, right means 
of livelihood, until by right effort and right concentration 
of mind the high peak of right contemplation and of the 
four trance-states is reached. Middle Path as it is, it is 
yet exacting enough to demand a specialization which is 
only for the few. These are called to break the Ten 
Fetters and to reach Samadhi, a tranquil, “cool” state of 
mental equilibrium, and to enjoy the Jhanas. Beginning 
in a secluded place to meditate upon some subject spe- 
cially suited to his temperament,’ the recluse is instructed 
to concentrate his attention until he reaches a condition 
of ecstatic joy. Here is a third distinctive feature. This 
Samadhi is the means to the extinction of Tanha, to the 
increasing of religious knowledge, and to the acquisition 
of supernormal powers, Abhififia, which include a memory 
of one’s former existences and the power to pass through 
. Space, and to work certain other wonders, Iddhi. Here 
Buddhism owes much to the ancient Yoga, and like it 
makes faith, energy, wisdom, and other qualities of the 
moral will prerequisites to these trance-states. 

“The ideal of early Buddhism is the equilibrium of 
morals (Sila), meditation (Jhana), and intuitive wisdom 


t There are five principal subjects for meditation: 


Karunabhavana—meditation upon pity 
Mettabhavana—upon compassion 
Muditabhavana—upon sympathy 
Asubhabhavana—upon charnel-house, graveyards, etc. 
Upekhabhavana—upon detachment. 


RAJAGAHA 21 


(Panfa).” And this equlibrium is not easily reached. 
Whether anyone reaches it is difficult to say; the monk 
is forbidden to make such a claim on his own behalf, and 
who else can know? My impression, based on careful 
investigation, is that in the modern Buddhist world these 
higher practices are hardly to be found except in some few 
earnest followers of the Zen school in Japan. That the 
Founder and some of his immediate followers attained to 
Samadhi seems clear. That he, or at least the early 
writers, anticipated that it would become a rare accom- 
plishment seems equally clear. Arhats are not much 
mentioned after the close of the Pali canon, partly because 
of the difficulty of the Way, but more, as we shall see, 
because it ceased to commend itself to the majority as a 
true interpretation of the mind of the Founder. The 
Lohans or Arhats of China are a limited group of eighteen, 
representing perhaps the “eighteen schools” of orthodoxy, 
but the Bodhisattvas are innumerable. ‘Save yourself 
before you can save others’ is the Arhat ideal; ‘“‘Save 


others and you save yourself” is the Bodhisattva’s creed. | 


In other words: “‘self-realization” is the former, “self- 
realization through self-sacrifice,” the latter ideal. 

From the first it seems clear that Buddhism did empha- 
size the power of love or compassion, “the unbounded 
friendly mind,” as a means to reach these high states. 
“All the means available as grounds for right conduct are 
not worth a sixteenth part of the liberation of the heart 
through love. That outshines them all in radiance and 
absorbs them into itself,” so says the Itivuttaka or 
Logia of Buddhism, and among the many noble teach- 


The Buddhist, like the Christian moralist, exhorts us to “put on love” as a 
girdle which binds together and harmonizes the other virtues; cf. II Peter 1: 5-7. 
Faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, love, have all a place in 
Buddhist ethics. Six of them are paramitas of the Bodhisattva. 


Rane 


ae. EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ings of the early Sangha shines out the poem on compas- 
sion so often quoted but always worthy of comment and 
study: 
As, recking nought of self, a mother’s love 
Enfolds and cherishes her only son, 
So through the world let thy compassion move 
And compass living creatures every one; 
Soaring and sinking in unfettered liberty, 
Free from ill-will, purged of all enmity! 


There are, if we may so express it, two other wings in 
this early Buddhism besides that of contemplation by 
which the soul may mount to a life truly sublime. One 
is the wing of wisdom; the other, less developed as yet, 
is the wing of love. For it is to the mind, after all, that 
Buddhism makes its chief appeal, and here lies the unique 
contribution of Buddhist ethics, that it blends with its 
practical aim a system of theoretical wisdom. And this 
wisdom is not the ordinary wisdom of the man in the 
street, but a mystic insight, an intuition which sees 
things as they are and chooses the best. Through this 
insight man realizes the Dhamma as the universal truth, 
and when he reaches Nibbana he has realized what was 
later defined as an all-embracing intelligence, and a love 
as all-inclusive. Thus the crown and sum of Buddhist 
morality may be said to be negatively a dispersal of the 
clouds of ignorance (Avijja) and positively the dawning of 
the light of Bodhi. It is morally the thrusting-out of 
egoism by the awakening of benevolence or altruism. At 
a later date it was to be religiously interpreted as the 
surrender of the self to the will of an Eternal Being: for 
the present it remains a moral communion with all sentient 
beings. To pervade them with thoughts of love—this is 
the way to union with Brahman, i.e., to Nibbana. 


RAJAGAHA 23 


Underlying the whole system is this sense of the unity 
of all things, a germ which was to develop before many 
centuries into a metaphysical system hardly distinguish- 
able from the Hindu philosophy against which Buddhism 
was essentially a rebellion; and into a theology akin to 
that of orthodox Christianity. 

And here we must notice the place which faith (Saddha) 
plays in the ethical system of Sakyamuni; for his followers 
in millions today believe in salvation by faith; and in him 
as Savior, whether they are orthodox lay-Hinayanists of 
Burma and Ceylon or followers of the Mahayana schools 
of Japan and China. 

The development of such a doctrine is not unnatural. 
Faith is one of the cardinal virtues of early Buddhism. 
It is the first of the indriyas, or “organs,” energy being 
the second, mindfulness the third, contemplation the 
fourth, and wisdom the fifth. In other words, the Bud- 
dhist is to have faith in order that he may attain to 
wisdom. In one passage it is ranked with intuition as the 
means of salvation. What is the exact connotation of 
Saddha, or faith, and what is the object to which it is to 
cling ? 

Much has been written upon the subject, and yet it 
may almost be summed up in two sayings attributed to 
Gotama himself. The first is in the Majjhima Nikdya: 
“Whoso shall turn to me with faith and love shall reach 
one of the heavenly worlds. And whatsoever monk shall 
conform himself to my teaching, walking in full faith in it, 
he shall attain to Full Awakening.”* In other words, 
faith in the teacher has its reward, but it is a less reward 
than that given to faith in his teachings. The Buddha 
is the guide, let the disciple trust in his guidance. It is 


t Majj. Nik. in Discourses, Silacara i. 18; i.e., a heaven for lay-folk by way of 
pietism; Nibbana for monks by way of the Dhamma. 


24 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


clear from other passages that he sought constantly to 
disentangle the tendrils of devotion which were beginning 
to cling to his person, and to attach them to the Dhamma: 
“He that seeth the Teaching, seeth Me,” says the Jt- 
vuttaka. 

With this attitude of faith in the teaching should be 
mentioned that of devotion to the Sangha in which the 
teaching is embodied: ‘“‘He that would wait upon me, let 
him wait upon the sick brethren.’” 

One of the earliest formulas of Buddhism, that of the 
ordination ceremony, expresses this attitude toward the 
Three Jewels: “I take refuge in the Buddha, in the 
Sangha, and in the Dhamma,” and these Three Jewels are 
the objects of orthodox Buddhist faith. This formula is 
of great importance. The fact that it puts “The Buddha” 
first in defiance of his own teachings indicates a somewhat 
late date; as it stands it represents a Buddhist expression 
of the later Hindu practice—bhakti, devotion to god or 
saint; knowledge of religious truth; and asceticism. 
Hinduism put the second first as the most important, and 
Gotama seems clearly to have done so too. Knowledge 
of the Dhamma, trust in the Buddha, the mild asceticism 
of the Sangha—this is the Buddhist substitute for the 
Hindu ways to Nirvana. And this “taking refuge” is an 
act of faith in all three. This faith is a psychological 
state of mind; the Buddha himself being described as 
saddha-hattho, or one who has faith as his hand, and by 
the words pasada, mano-pasada, citta-pasada, is implied 
a calm, serene attitude which is produced by the Dhamma 
as a muddy pool is made clear by a magic jewel. 

Faith is moreover “the root of right views,”? as doubt 
(Vicikicca) is the source of confusion and conflict. “Right 

t Majj. Nik. viii. 6. ? Udana, p. 68; Rhys Davids, Dialogues, p. 187. 


RAJAGAHA a6 


¢ 


views” says the Itivuttaka 
conduct.” 

This attitude soon, however, began to develop into a 
kind of bhakti, or devotion;’ the great Teacher could not 
keep men from loving him; and this love kindled their 
imagination until they came to regard him as knowing 
things hidden from the great Brahma himself;? as the 
only source of truth; ‘‘All that is well said is a word of 
the Blessed One.” 

Even so, however, the good Buddhist passes on from 
faith to experience and intuition: ‘“‘ You,” says the Teacher 
to Ananda, “say this in faith; I know it from experience.” 
And the Arhat is one who has passed on the wings of 
faith and love to knowledge. 

What shall we say as to Gotama’s own faith? It is 
clear in the first place that he believed in the reasonable- 
ness of the universe; law is universal. Secondly, he had 
a conception of law in the moral sphere so thorough-going, 
so subtle, and intelligent in its workings, as to appear to 
later Buddhists nothing else than an absolute Mind;* and 
in some undoubtedly early sayings we may find indications 
that he was no atheist, as some of his followers have 
believed. In the Tevijja Sutta he uses the admirable 
words: “To pervade the world with kindliness, pity, 
sympathy, and equable feeling—this is the way to union 
with Brahma.” This saying is isolated and is of course 
susceptible of more than one interpretation; it may well 
be an argumentum ad homines: “The devotees of Brahma 
are busy seeking union with him: very good; let us 
redefine the Nirvana of Brahma as Nibbana, and show 


‘are as essential as right 


* Cf. Divyavadana, pp. 360-64; a book of the third century a.p., of Hinayana origin. 
* Digha Nik. i. 215. 
3 Ang. Nik. xiv. 163-64. 4 Cf. Poussin, Bouddhisme, passim, 


26 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


them a more excellent way.” That this is what the 
Reformer aimed at doing is clear; but it may well be 
that it was not Brahma to whom he objected but the 
methods of worship employed, and the conception of 
absorption into the absolute Brahman a kind of chemical 
fusion. In place of this he offered men an ethical har- 
mony with the universe, and an escape from the flux of 
becoming to the peace and joy of being. And inasmuch 
as the ways of Mukti, salvation, offered by the religious 
leaders of his day were not moral, not related to the hu- 
man life about them, he did what Jesus did in Judea, and 
satirized these blind leaders of the blind. They were 
guilty either of ignoring the real nature of the self or of 
forgetting the lawfulness of the universe, and the right- 
eousness which is working init. May it not be that like 
Jesus the Indian reformer did indeed relate these to a 
Supreme Being? And that when he used the personal 
Brahma and the impersonal Brahman he meant them to 
be understood in the old way, but with a new and purified 
connotation? That he came to “fulfil, not to destroy” ? 

This is what the bulk of modern Buddhists believe, and 
this was his attitude to the whole Hindu system of his 
day. Brahma and Brahman, the Vedas, the Brahmins, 
Nirvana, the Dharma, the Atman, Karma itself—he 
redefined them all. Early Buddhism, like early Chris- 
tianity, consisted in a revaluation of values, a transforma- 
tion of ritual rightness into moral righteousness, a bring- 
ing of an other-worldly joy and peace into the midst 
of a sorrowful world. Gotama like Jesus towers above 
our vindication of his originality. These gave the people 
bread; others told them how it might be made! There 
were, moreover, in Sakyamuni as in Jesus great and 
sublime qualities which bound men and women to him 


RAJAGAHA 27 


by enduring bonds. His magnetism was such that they 
were converted in many cases long before their reasons 
can have been satisfied, and such was his insight into 
human hearts that we find him adapting his method with 
so sure a touch as to win the title “Physician of Souls,” 
and with so much love that even when he used the knife 
his patients loved him no less devotedly. They found 
in him one who was intensely interested in them, never 
impatient, and in whom was no respect of persons. The 
poor sweeper Sunita, who had seen him moving serene and 
majestic among kings and nobles, adored the courtesy 
with which he smiled as he greeted him, and to the leper 
he gave of his best, discerning beneath his rags and sores 
a mind ready “as a clean and spotless robe for the dye,” 
and only waiting for the right word to be numbered among 
the saints. Men respected the fearless teacher who 
redefined so many of their religious and social catchwords, 
and who set up a new religious democracy in which worth 
rather than birth was the standard, and in which liberty 
was sanely tempered and controlled. Here was a new 
and reasonable Way, which knew nothing of priestcraft 
and yet gave access to divine Truth, which cut at the roots 
of religiosity and yet kept much of the mystery and glamor 
of religion, which struck a sane balance between asceticism 
and worldliness, and between self-culture and altruism. 
Here, above all, was an authentic voice speaking of the 
things of real experience, however ineffable, and a con- 
tagious joy, quiet yet unmistakable, amid the charlatans 
and sophists of the day who told men the way to Nirvana, 
but without conviction or enthusiasm, and who handed 
out to starving souls either husks or recipes for making 
bread. The followers of Sakyamuni might be compared 
to these in the words used by Tertullian of the early Chris- 


28 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


tian church: ‘Our common people are more virtuous 
than your philosophers.” 

They left all and followed him, accepting his simple 
. challenge, “Come, Bhikkhu,”’ as a call to life-long discipline, 
or if he did not so order it, as laymen served him and his 
brethren with simple and sincere devotion. So this 
master of men lived among them, in the world yet not of 
it, “‘as a fair lotus unsullied by the mud in which it grows”’; 
so he set up a realm of righteousness and love which in his 
lifetime centered about him, and when he passed away 
claimed him as its Eternal King. The story of its growth 
is one of the great chapters in human history. Not least 
of the claims of early Buddhism to originality is its 
missionary spirit. Contemporary Hindu philosophy 
seems in comparison an arid intellectualism. 


CHAPTER II 
PATALI-PUTRA 


The Spread of the Dhamma and Its Safeguarding 
(ca. 250 B.C.) 


“Greatest of gifts is the gift of the Dhamma.”’—Asoxa VARDHANA. 


We have seen that the essence of Sakyamuni’s teach- 
ing was the universality of the Dhamma and of the Law 
of Causation, and that with this went the conception of 
the unity of all existence. Kings and emperors, always 
eager to find a bond of union among the various elements 
in their domain, soon began to favor this new teaching; 
thus during the lifetime of Gotama we find Bimbisara very 
obviously looking about for a helpful religion, and finally 
choosing Buddhism, of which he became a devoted cham- 
pion; and his parricide son, Ajatasattu, later on also 
became a good Buddhist. Their kingdom of Magadha 
formed the nucleus of the two mighty empires of the 
Mauryas and Guptas, aided, no doubt, by the Buddhist 
religion, which not only unified the people but helped to 
keep the Brahmins in their place.*  Patali-putra, on the 
northern bank of the Sdn, was the capital of the Mauryas, 
and though we cannot find evidence of the splendor which 
made the Chinese pilgrim, Fa-Hian (400 a.D.), attribute its 
building to genil, yet it was undoubtedly a magnificent 
city; and Megasthenes, a Greek contemporary, describes 
it as a fortress with a garrison of a million armed men! 
A great pillared hall has recently been excavated, and 
shown to bear a strong resemblance to the Hall of the 


t This was clearly one reason for the success of the Buddhist reform—that its 
leader was himself a Kshattriya. 


29 


@ 


30 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Hundred Pillars at Persepolis.’ Here, two hundred years 
after the passing of Gotama, the great Asoka Vardhana 
or Piyadassi seized upon Buddhism—or more truly, per- _ 
haps, was seized by it—and with his genius for organ- 
ization used it as a bond of union, and spread its ethical 
teachings in a simple lay-form far and wide; for the under- 
lying doctrine of unity had for him political as well as 
philosophical meaning, and he realized that it had inter- 
national as well as national bearings. In this greatest of 
India’s kings, “beloved of the gods” and friend of man 
and beast, we see what the Dhamma, divorced from its 
monasticism, and also apparently from its metaphysic. 
and psychology, can do for a nation. Converted about 
260 B.c. by the horrors of a great war of aggression, 
Asoka became a man of peace and called upon his subjects 
throughout India and upon neighboring countries to 
accept this “greatest of gifts,” the code of filial piety, of 
brotherly kindness, of justice and truth, of tolerance and 
strenuous endeavor after the higher life. Setting a noble 
example in his own loving care for the temporal welfare 
of his people, he urged upon them the pre-eminence of the 
Dhamma, set about building glorious Stupas, com- 
memorating not only the life of Sakyamuni but that 
of two former Buddhas, and in their honor stimulated 
India to produce an art unsurpassed in her history. By 
such means he united his people in the bonds of the 
Dhamma, and Buddhism was established as the_national 
religion. His guru was, according to northern tradition, 
the Bhikkhu Upagupta, known in the Ceylon chronicle as 
Tissa, and it is possible that at the end of his reign the 
emperor himself became a monk, for the Chinese pilgrim, 
I-Tsing, has left us a description of a statue of Asoka 
tSee D. B. Spooner, 7.R.4.S., 1912. 








THE ANURADHAPURA BUDDHA 


PATALI-PUTRA 31 


dressed in the yellow robe, and his younger brother or 
son, Mahinda, was undoubtedly a monk, who with his 
sister, Sanghamitta, laid the foundations of a great 
Buddhist civilization in Lanka, or Ceylon. Asoka is 
also credited with missions to Suvarna-Bhumi, or Lower 
Burma, and in India proper to lands as far north as the 
Himalaya country around Purusapura, and as far south 
as Mysore. Of these missions his edicts, carved on rocks 
and pillars, are sufficient evidence, and it is likely that 
missionary envoys were sent also to the Greek kingdoms 
of Asia and to Egypt, whose rulers are mentioned on several 
of them. Thus did the benign influence of the Dhamma 
begin to spread, and its significance as an international 
bond for the next thousand years cannot be estimated. 
In Asoka it showed not only what it could do as a nation- 
building power but also as an international force, and in 
him we may see the Bodhisattva type prevailing over the 
more austere Arhat, though he is known to the monks of 
the Ceylon monasteries merely as an Upasika, or lay- 
adherent. The laity of India were not slow to see in 
him the fulfilment of the old ideal of Cakkavatti, or uni- 
versal monarch, who united her peoples and bound other 
nations to her in the bonds of gratitude and peace. 

But if Buddhism was to be so great a bond of union, it 
must itself be united, and already in addition to many ~ 
minor differences which occasioned no ill-feeling there 
were by the time of Asoka fundamental points upon which 
Buddhists disagreed, and already the germs of the amazing 
divergences of later days are present in the Order. As to 
what the main differences of opinion were, the texts, which 
are clearly partisan, give very conflicting accounts. 

Orthodox tradition maintains that a hundred years or 
more before the Asokan period a heresy of the Vajjian 


30 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


monks of Vesali had been condemned as combining too 
great freedom of interpretation with laxity in such grave 
matters as sexual continence. However this may be, 
no new sect arose for a time, and we should be critical in 
accepting the statement of their rivals that it was from 
this heresy that the school of the Mahasanghikas arose in 
later days. Yet this school has left us a book, the 
Mahdvastu, which indicates that they were, to say the 
least, lacking in a sense of proportion. We shall discuss 
it later, and merely note here that it contains a small 
nucleus of Vinaya, or rules of discipline, overlaid with a 
confused mass of birth-stories of the Buddha, and much 
other irrelevant matter; and this cursory glance at it will 
help us to realize how much Buddhism needed to safeguard 
its canon and to insist on maintaining its emphasis on the 
sane and lofty moral teaching of its Founder. Whether 
Asoka did it the former service or not, he will always be 
famous for his championship of this moral law. The 
following, one of his later edicts, is typical of all: 

Thus saith his Majesty: Father and mother must be obeyed; 
respect for all living creatures must be firmly established; truth must be 
spoken. These are virtues of the Law of Piety, which must be prac- 
tised. The teacher must be reverenced by the pupil, and proper 


courtesy must be shown to relatives. This is the ancient nature of 
piety, this leads to length of days, and according to this men must act. 


Thus, though Asoka confined himself for the most part 
to a simple lay-ethic, it seems that he accepted the 
Buddhist doctrine of Kamma," and recognized an order of 
the universe making for righteousness—not a bad working 
religion for an emperor. 

It is interesting to think of this great layman convening 
a council of the monks, helping them to put their house 


T He does not mention either Kamma or Samsara in his edicts. 


PATALI-PUTRA 33 


in order, and advising them on their religious reading; 
nor is there sufficient reason to reject the large body of 
tradition which tells us that he did so to fix the canon and 
to reform abuses. Vincent Smith has made a good case 
for placing this assembly, which met at Patali-putra, 
between 243 and 238 B.c. If it had been earlier, the 
emperor would surely have mentioned it on the Seven 
Pillar Edicts set up in the thirty-second year of his reign, 
to commemorate what he had done for the furtherance of 
the Dhamma. On the Bhabra Edict he commends seven 
passages, almost all of which have been variously identified 
by Winternitz, Kosambi, Rhys Davids, and others; 
they seem to be portions of the Vinaya, Itivuttaka, Sutta 
Nipata, and Anguttara Nikaya; though “all things 
spoken by the Blessed One are well spoken,” these are of 
special moment to monks and nuns. Two of his sermons, 
the famous fire-sermon and his address to Rahula, are 
specially mentioned. Now it is reasonable to suppose 
that the emperor, who seems in his paternalism to have 
been a forerunner of Wilhelm of Hohenzollern, followed 
up this advice by organizing a council to make some sort 
of selection from the Sacred Lore, and though the canon 
was certainly not fixed with any rigidity at this time, nor 
reduced to writing even according to the Ceylon chronicle 
for another two centuries, and though some notable 
additions have been made even after the Sacred Lore was 
converted into Sacred Books, yet “the Pali Tipitaka may 
be regarded as not very different from the Magadhi 
canon of the third century B.c.’* How great is the credit 


*Macdonnell in Z.R.E., Vol. VIII. Probably Pali is the literary derivative of 
Magadhi akin to Kosali, the dialect used by Gotama. But many other theories may be 
defended: “the cradle of Pali has yet to be discovered,” says Sylvain Lévi. The edicts 
of Asoka are for the most part in a developed Kosalan dialect. Tipitaka—the three 
Baskets or collections—passed on from generation to generation like baskets of earth 
along a line of workmen. 


34 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


due to the “‘schools of reciters,” mentioned in an Asokan 
edict and in the Milinda Paitha, and to the faithful scribes 
whom Fa-Hian found at work in Ceylon in the fifth | 
century, for preserving to the world this wonderful collec- 
tion of ancient literature! It is their edition that has 
come down to us. It contains works of real genius, and 
some of the ‘‘Psalms of the Brethren” breathe the fresh- 
ness and glamor of the dawn, and are yet highly wrought 
poetry. “In skillful craftsmanship and beauty these 
songs are worthy to be set beside the hymns of the Rig 
Veda, and the lyrical poems of Kalidas.’* Nearly the 
whole of this great library 1s now available in Romanized 
Pali, and much of it in English and German translations. 
As its name implies, it is made up of three “Baskets,” 
or collections: (1) Vinaya, or “Rules of Discipline,” (2) 
Sutta, or “Dialogues,” and (3) Abhidhamma, “Higher 


Religion,” or explanatory treatises. 


I... VINAYA 


These rules were gradually evolved, and we can trace 
their growth in the earliest narratives; as occasion arose, 
Gotama would make a rule, or establish a practice, some- 
times as a result of criticism from without, as when the 
people of Magadha complained that his monks kept no 
retreats in the wet season like those of other orders, some- 
times to meet schism from within, as in the numerous 
instances of the unruly monks of Kosambi. After the 
death of their master the Sangha continued this method 
of accumulating disciplinary laws for many generations 
to come, and the Yinaya as a whole maintains the direct- 
ness and precision of the Founder. To students of the 
monastic life this ““Basket’’ is full of interest, and indeed 

1 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism, p. 283. 


PATALI-PUTRA 35 


it is not possible to understand Buddhism without it.” 
Yet it almost certainly represents a stage of its evolution 
later and more monastic than that of the Founder. 


2. *SUTTA 


The second collection, Sutta, or “Dialogues,” consists 
of five parts, or Nikayas: 

1. The Digha, or long dialogues, thirty-four in num- 
ber, dealing with doctrines of special importance, e.g., 
(a) the Brahmajala Sutta, or “Perfect Net,” which deals 
with practices of the Brahmins which are not to be 
commended, and mentions sixty-two heretical schools; 
(2) the Samannaphala Sutta, which deals with the fruits 
of the life of a Bhikkhu, and discusses other sects; (c) the 
Ambattha Sutia, which deals with the great question of 
caste; (d) the Siga/lovada Sutta, dealing with the duties 
of the laity; while others deal with subjects already dis- 
cussed in chapter 1; thus the Mahdnidana Suita has to 
do with the Law of Causation, and Arhatship is the 
theme of many. 

The collection is clearly of mixed date; amid much that 
is stilted and conventional it has imbedded in it a rare 
jewel, the famous Mahdparinibbana Sutta, most authentic 
of all the Buddhist records of the life of the Founder. 
In words sublime in their simplicity and pathos it tells 
the story of his passing, and the characters that it depicts 
are real human beings, not lay-figures: the fussy and 
faithful Ananda is drawn from life, and there are touches 
of humor in the words of Sakyamuni, which no devout 
Buddhist would or could invent. Yet even this great 


*The Vinaya has three main sections: (1) Suttavibhanga; (2) Khandaka; and 
(3) Parivara. The first contains rules of personal conduct for monks and nuns; the 
second contains the real kernel of the work—Mahdvagga and Cullavagga; the third is a 
later appendix probably added in Ceylon. See B.T.; S.B.E., Vols. XIII, XVII, and XX. 


36 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


fragment of a real “gospel” is mixed up with the miracu- 
lous, and seems itself to be composite; while another 
sutta, the Mahapadana, is clearly late in its entirety, deal- 
ing wholly with miraculous happenings, and exhausting 
itself in honorifics of Sakyamuni. The twenty-sixth 
dialogue of this collection puts into the mouth of Saky- 
amuni the prophecy of another Buddha, Metteyya (only 
mentioned here in the Pali canon, and in Buddhaghosa’s 
commentary, but a notable figure in the Sanskrit 
Mahayana), who will restore the fortunes of the faith 
when they have fallen; and unless we are to see in this 
an utterance of the serene Teacher in a rare moment of 
depression, it would seem to be a “prophecy after the 
event’’—to belong therefore to a very late era, when the 
fortunes of Hinayana Buddhism were on the wane. 
The cult of Metteyya seems to have thriven as the Golden 
Age of Indian Buddhism was passing. 

As to the doginatic contents of this collection, as Dr. 
Macdonnell says: “It already contains the dogma of six 
Buddhas as precursors of Gautama, and presupposes the 
whole Buddha legend.’’* He could, if he would, prolong 
his existence upon earth for an aeon. In some of its 
highly elaborated dialogues, too, Sakyamuni is depicted 
as conversing with heavenly beings, and these may well 
have served as the model for the Mahayana romances 
which were to become so popular in the first centuries of 
the Christian Era.? The Tevisja Sutta contains a notable 
passage in which directions are given for pervading the 
whole universe with thoughts of love, for “this is the 
way to union with Brahma.” 


*“Titerature” (Buddhist), Z.R.Z., Vol. VII. 


2 Cf. Dialogue 14 where Gotama explains his knowledge of former births by heav- 
enly intervention as well as human insight. 


PATALI-PUTRA 37 


2. The Majjhima, or Suttas of middle length, are one 
hundred and fifty-two sermons and dialogues, which 
reveal a more human and less artificial Gotama. But 
these too are of mixed date, containing a fairly large ele- 
ment of miracle and some ethical teaching like that in 
the famous “Parable of the Saw,” which may well mark 
a transition stage between Hinayana and Mahayana 
ethical ideals, being nearer to that of the Bodhisattva 
than to that of the Arhat. As to its Buddhology the 
Majjhima 1s also transitional; its Buddha is a man who 
has freed himself from passion and delivers others, if 
they accept his law with unquestioning obedience, for he 
has attained to absolute truth." He is “the incomparable 
king of the Dhamma,” and as such “the perfect phy- 
sician,”’ the “captain of the ship of salvation.’ 

3. The Samyutta, or mixed dialogues, fifty-six in 
number, contain some early verse, the famous “Wheel- 
turning Sermon,” said to have been the first public 
utterance of Sakyamuni after his enlightenment, and 
some later material, such as the story of Punna, which 
may well be an echo of the missions of Asoka, and which 
embodies in an exquisite dialogue the Bodhisattva ideal 
of resolute and indomitable good-will in sacrificial service. 
The claim that the Buddha is sinless? would also suggest 
a somewhat late date. 

Among the undoubtedly early material in this collec- 
tion are ballads of great beauty and of considerable 
dramatic skill, especially those in which Mara the Tempter 


t Cf. Majjhima ii. 173, 1. 265 and 1. 71, 


2 Ibid. 92. Cf. Edmunds, Buddhist and Christian Gospels (3d ed.), pp. 140-41. 
The first fifty dialogues of the Majjhima have been translated into English by the 
Bhikkhu Silacara, and some are to be found in S.B.£., Vol. XI. 


3 Samyutta iii. 103. Some of the book is translated into English in Mrs. Rhys 
Davids’ Book of the Kindred Sayings, and in Warren’s Buddhism in Translations. 


38 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


is defeated by the Buddha or one of his followers, and 
leaves the stage “‘cast down and very sorrowful.” 

4. The Anguttara, or “Adding One Collection,” is 
clearly late, recapitulating matter found in early collec- 
tions, and artificial and tedious in its arithmetical arrange- 
ment. Its structure suggests a later development of the 
catechetical schools. In its Buddhology too it is 
advanced; Gotama, who has the physical marks of a 
superman, is sinless—in the world yet undefiled, and is 
the only teacher of truth; he is, in fact, an omniscient 
demigod—a position, be it noted, of unstable equilibrium. 
Either men must go forward and take the Mahayana posi- 
tion, or backward and recover that of the earlier Sangha, 
that he is the wise and loving “elder brother of the world.’” 

5. The Khuddaka, or short collection of fifteen books 
and booklets, mostly in verse, contains prayers and 
charms, together with some notable poems like that upon 
Mettam, or compassion, so justly famous. And still 
more important as a link with the Mahayana is its doctrine 
of Patidanam, or reversible merit, which teaches that 
merit gained by one may be shared with others—a seed- 
thought capable of strange and far-reaching developments, 
as we shall see, and opening the door at once to the ancient 
ancestor cults of the whole Orient. The doctrine may 
indeed be an accommodation on the part of Sakyamuni 
himself, or of the early Sangha, to meet these inveterate 
beliefs, and certainly the book as a whole 1s old, containing 
the Dhammapada and Itivuttaka,? anthologies of Logia or 


‘German translation by the Bhikkhu Nanatiloka, Leipsig, and some English 
renderings in Warren, op. cit.; cf. especially dng. Nik. iv. 36, quoted in Edmunds’ 
Buddhist and Christian Gospels, p. 135. And in Ceylon Mr. Gooneratne has published 
an edition of the first three sections (Galle, 1913). 


?The Khuddakapatha for neophytes, translated by Maung Tin, Rangoon; the 
Dhammapada, several translations; the Jtivuttaka, translated by G. Moore, New York; 
Theratherigatha, translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids, London; 7ataka, translated by E. B. 
Cowell, 1895. 


PATALI-PUTRA 39 


gnomic utterances, of which the latter was in existence 
before the time of Asoka, and many of which may well 
be the actual words of the Founder. Gotama is in this 
collection a great human teacher whose claim to authority 
is self-evidencing, but he has qualified for this position by 
a long series of rebirths, having been Sakra no less than 
thirty-six times and a universal monarch hundreds of 
times.7 The ¥ataka book of nearly five hundred and fifty 
stories of these former births of the Buddha was already 
in process of compilation before Asoka’s time.? 


3. ABHIDHAMMA 


The five collections of Suttas are all to some extent 
brightened and relieved by snatches of verse or by 
anecdotes; almost unrelieved in their tedium are the 
seven books of the “Third Basket of Higher Religion,” 
the Abhidhamma. “However,” says so kindly a critic as 
H. C. Warren, “like the desert of Sahara, they are to be 
respected for their immensity.” 

If the Suttas were composed with one eye on the laity, 
the Abhidhamma is scholastic throughout, and of much 
later date. It recapitulates, in the form of a catechism, 
the doctrine of earlier books, and its formal logic is clearly 
of value to students only, and to them chiefly, we may 
suppose, in disciplining the mind and in checking the 
inveterate Indian tendency to let imagination run riot. 
It is doubtful if there were ever more than a handful who 
succeeded in practicing these higher flights,* and for the 


1 Ttivuttaka 22. 

2 Some of the 74aiakas are illustrated on the Barhut Rail and other monuments of 
this period. 

3 All that can be safely said is that the 4bhidhamma as we have it is not known to 
the older portions of the Milinda Panha; i.e., it is not earlier than the late second 
century B.C. 

4 Cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids’ translation of Dhamma Sangani in A Buddhist Manual of 
Psychological Ethics, London. I think Mrs. Rhys Davids is a little too sanguine as 
to the early date of this work. 


40 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


rest of us this work does not add much to our knowledge 
of Buddhism.t Such in outline is the early Pali canon, 
“from which,” says Professor Poussin, “it would be pos- 
sible to extract two or three canons all complete, all like 
one another, and all conflicting!” 

It is a library which has had an amazing history, and 
which is worthy of the devoted labors which scholars of 
East and West have consecrated to it. With all its repeti- 
tions, contradictions, and fiction thinly veiled, in spite of 
much in its form that is artificial and much in its matter 
that is tedious, it is a treasure-house, indeed, of the early 
history of an ethical reform almost unique, of a great 
springtide of the human spirit, and, may we not believe, 
of the Spirit of God? It contains strata of such different 
dates as to demand long and scientific study, and raises 
many difficult questions. What, for example, has hap- 
pened to the original works which must have been com- 
piled in Magadhi, a dialect akin to that of the Asokan 
inscriptions ? The Pali canon is in a later literary diction, 
and is clearly derived from a different source than the 
Chinese version. | 

Very interesting too to the student of religion is the 
process which he can here watch, by which the historic 
Gotama is being transformed into a god. All the more 
impressive because of its naiveté is the growing devotion 
to him which is revealed. So gradual is it, indeed, that 
the custodians of tradition, who for centuries handed on 
these stories with the words, “‘“Thus have I heard,”’ seem 
quite unconscious of discrepancies and contradictions in 
the narratives they are preserving side by side. Gradually 
the beloved Teacher “mounts the throne of Brahma” 


t The only early schools which had the temerity to attribute this Basket to immedi- 
ate disciples of the Buddha were the Sarvastivadino and their Bereet-ecnoal: This 
claim Poussin rightly calls “‘a pious fraud” (Opinions, p. 44). 


PATALI-PUTRA 4l 


from which his shrewd thrusts have driven this great 
one among the gods; and the steps are here preserved for 
us: now he is the infallible teacher; now the sublime 
being who can, if he will, prolong his life on earth indefi- 
nitely; now refusing to do this he leaves a finished work, 
and turns their eyes to the teachings he has given them, 
only to find that the human heart is not to be satisfied 
with such a substitute, and that the empty throne cannot 
remain for long unoccupied. So the Teacher is hailed as 
lord and controller of the universe, master of men and 
gods.* 

If the canon was fixed in Asoka’s reign, one would 
imagine that the next step would be to transcribe it. But 
though Asoka’s edicts prove that reading was common, 
this did not take a place for another two or three cen- 
turies when, in the reign of Vattagamini of Ceylon, a Pali 
version was made. And that which has come down to 
us 1s also due to the Ceylon monks, who, under the leader- 
ship of the great commentator Buddhaghosa, in the fifth 
century A.D., re-edited this earlier version. The Tipitaka 
has therefore undergone accretions and revisions which 
may well have added to its interpretation of the person of 
Gotama, but which, being made entirely by orthodox 
monks, have carefully excluded the ‘“‘heresies of the 
Mahayana,” and which reveal a cautious attitude toward 
the supernatural which is shared by the Asokan sculptures, 
but not by those of Gandhara. 

Indeed, it is when we turn from the Scriptures to the 
monuments of early Buddhism that we can watch the + 
process most clearly. In the first great period of Buddhist 
art, that of Asoka, there are no images of the Founder, 
but worship is being paid to his symbols—the empty 


™Cf., e.g., Anguttara ii. 23; Samyutta i. 67. 


42 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


throne, the Lotus, the Wheel of the Law, the Footprint; 
before all these gods and men bow, not only in reverence 
but in worship. In one of the panels, for instance, of the 
great Barhut rail we see King Ajatasattu kneeling before 
the Footprint of the Buddha, and the inscription tells 
us that he is “paying homage to the lord.” It is clear 
that by the middle of the third century B.c. something 
very much like worship of Gotama has been estab- 
lished; and numerous scenes from the ataka are depicted 
on these railings, and indicate that the Buddha-myth 
was already well developed. Yet there were no temples 
but only chaityas, or shrines, with monks in attendance 
to remind the pilgrims of the limits beyond which worship 
must not go. 

It is not until the second great period of Buddhist art, 
that of Gandhara, that images of the Buddha are found, 
and that he can be described in words of the Itivuttaka as 
“having mounted the empty throne of Brahma,” and 
become a chief among the gods or even as the Milinda 
Paiha says, “god of all gods.” The sculptures of Bud- 
dhism seem, indeed, to have lagged behind the Scriptures 
in this process of deification; they are useful in confirming, 
and in some cases correcting, the evidence afforded by a 
critical study of the books. 

It may be well at this point to touch upon the schools 
or sects of the Hinayana which now appear, to the great 
confusion of the student. The best source for a study of 
these is Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the Kathavatthu. 
The commentary was not written until the fifth century 
A.D., but the book itself is attributed to Tissa, the king’s 
Buddhist teacher, and parts of it may well belong to his 
age. Unfortunately it is violently partisan, and scorns 
even to name the schools which it criticizes, and the 


PATALI-PUTRA 43 


commentary is inevitably colored by later developments. 
Another source is the Abhidharmakosa, or “‘Treasure of 
Abhidharma,” by Vasubandhu,* who speaks of eighteen 
schools; and there are also Tibetan accounts. 

Yet much as the traditions differ, they are agreed that 
at an early date occurred the “Five Points” of Mahadeva’s 
heresy about Arhatship, and that this precipitated an 
agreement to disagree. The two main schools that 
resulted were the Sthaviravadino or Theravadino, who 
claimed to represent the true “School of the Elders,” and 
the Mahdasanghika, or “School of the Great Council,” 
a name allowed them by their adversaries, and suggesting 
possibly that they came to be a majority. The former 
school, with its great subsect, the Sarvastivadino, were 
realists alike as to the phenomenal world, the self, and 
the historical Sakyamuni; the subsect differs from its 
parent in holding that an Arhat can fall from his high 
estate. The Mahasanghikas and their great subsect, the 
Lokottaravadino, held a transcendental view of the person 
of Sakyamuni which at times became even docetic, holding 
not only that he had been free from human passions but 
that nothing but a phantom or apparition had been seen 
by the men of his day. 

The canon of the Elders or their subsect the Vibhaj- 
jhavadino is substantially the Pali canon of today. That 
of another of their subsects, the Sarvastivadino, was in 
Sanskrit and little remains except Tibetan and Chinese 
translations. Of the canon of the Mahasanghikas we 
may take as typical the “Book of Great Events,” or 
Mahavastu, compiled by their subsect, the Lokottara- 
vadino. This book is described by Barth as full of “‘need- 


1 The date of Vasubandhu is much discussed by scholars; Takakusu places him 
in the fifth century; Péri thinks his death was not later than 350 a.p. and Winternitz 
agrees. 


44 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


less padding, two, three, or four accounts and more of 
the same episode from different sources, sometimes con- 
tradictory, sometimes following one another, sometimes 
scattered through the book, dovetailed into one another, 
disjointed, lacerated.’’ Among its contents are a number 
of birth-stories, long lists of Buddhas, and passages of a 
marked docetic tendency, all of which point to somewhat 
late compilation. But there is undoubted early material, 
and a glance at its chaotic contents helps us to appreciate 
the service attributed to Asoka in calling for the formation 
of a canon. 

The book is interesting, moreover, as helping to bridge 
the gulf between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism. 
It had, for instance, a section on the ten Bhumis, or 
“fields,” of the Bodhisattvas, which is apparently a 
development of the four stages of Arhatship; and in it 
adoration of the Buddha is the principal way of salvation. 
Here, in fact, is a document of the tunnel period between 
Asoka and Kanishka, which is therefore of considerable 
value. 

The Mahasanghikas and the Lokottaravadino may 
be regarded as semi-Mahayanist in their view of the person 
of Sakyamuni and in their tendency to deny the reality of 
the phenomenal world. They prepared the way for the 
idealistic schools of a later day. The Elders claimed 
to be more orthodox alike in their insistence upon the 
reality of the historic Sakyamuni, of the self, and of the 
world. They agree that the world and the self are unreal 
in a moral sense, as being transient and in a constant 
flux. But another subdivision of the Elders, the Sautran- 
tikas—so called because they preferred to adhere to the 
Suttas and rejected the scholastic Abhidhamma—were 
idealists, maintaining that all that exists is the momen- 


PATALI-PUTRA 45 


tary act of consciousness, and they too began now to sow 
the seeds for the subjective idealism of later schools. 

As to Buddhology, we may thus summarize the views 
of these schools: for Sthaviras, Sakyamuni is a man, 
supernormal but not supernatural, though he makes 
immense claims upon the faith of his followers; he has 
destroyed all germs of rebirth and embodies the Dhamma. 
Yet even in this conservative school there are tendencies 
at work to claim for him a more exalted position; for 
the Sarvastivadino, for instance, he is a Supreme Being, 
worshiped by gods and men. For Mahasanghikas, he is 
lokottara, or supramundane, subject to none of the 
passions or pains to which men are subject, yet behaving 
as a man to accommodate himself to human needs; by 
Yoga he is in union with all truth. 

For all these schools alike the belief in his pre-existence 
in a long series of sacrificial lives was axiomatic, and 
encouraged a tendency natural to Indian minds to relegate 
history to the background, and to relate the unimportant 
fact to the eternal principle. 

We see the Buddhist world, then, busy for some centu- 
ries accounting for the great hero who had given it birth, 
and finding in some of his own utterances the basis for a 
mythologizing process; and in his own principle of the 
unreality of the worldly life a germ from which there 
grew almost inevitably, first, an idealistic philosophy, and 
then a denial of his own real existence as a historic figure. 
But until much critical work has been done upon the texts 
these can only be accepted as tentative generalizations; 
there are crucial questions still to be answered, and among 
them the very difficult one as to the Sanskrit texts of 
Hinayana Buddhism, such as the Mahdvastu and the 
Lalita Vistara, books which may be regarded as belonging 


46 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


to the orthodox and yet bridging the gulf between them 
and the Mahayana. Are these translations from works 
originally in Pali, or are they original compositions in a 
mixed dialect coeval with it? This is a problem which is 
being attacked by Japanese and other scholars from three 
sides: their language, the ideas they embody, and the 
form of their composition. Those books which seem to 
owe most to Pali sources are in language most hetero- 
geneous; that is one clue. Another is that where there is 
a tendency to depart from the double standard of morality 
of the monastic order, and to substitute for it a single 
standard, we may suspect an original composition in 
Sanskrit. For this is the essentially new idea of the 
Mahayana, and was apparently worked out by Sanskrit 
scholars, such as the group whose work we must now 
consider. However this may be, there can be no question 
that the lay-Buddhism of the Asokan period is a link 
between the old and the new which is most significant; 
and Buddhists of all schools acknowledge their gratitude 
to the man who showed on so vast a stage the spectacle 
of a “theocracy without a God,” and who proved that 
Buddhism is not merely a religion for world-renouncing 
monks. 

Here was a foundation for the new Buddhism, and 
upon this and two other shafts sunk deep in the Hinayana 
—the transcendental Buddhology of one school and the 
subjective idealism of another—a new and lofty edifice 
was now reared. 


CHAPTER III 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 
(50 B.C.-100 A.D.) 


The Birth of Mahayana 
“TIT am the Father of the world: All men are my children; all are 


destined to Buddhahood.”—SAaDDHARMA PUNDARIKA. 

“Then shall it be accomplished that no living thing, no particle of 
dust shall fail to attain unto Buddhahood.”—AvVATAMASAKA SUTRA. 

About the northwest frontier of India lie countries 
which during the Buddhist Era were conquered and 
reconquered by many races. On the fertile plain to its 
south was the kingdom of Gandhara with its chief city 
of Purusapura and its University of Taxila, both situated 
on branches of the Indus. Conquered in part by Cyrus 
and more fully by Darius Hystaspes, it remained a satrapy 
until the fall of Persia, when it passed to Alexander and 
then to the Maurya emperors. It changed hands again 
several times between the Graeco-Bactrians and Graeco- 
Indians, until they in turn were driven out by the Sakas, 
or Scythians, a tribe of whom, the Kushans, under the 
great Kanishka, established their sway over Northern 
India." 

These frontier lands were happy in the early mission- 
aries of Buddhism, the gentle and indomitable Punna, 
whom the Master could not turn from his noble purpose 
of preaching to the wild frontier tribes, as we read in the 
Tipitaka, and “‘Kassapa, Majjhima, and Gotiputta, teach- 
ers of all the Himalaya lands,” envoys of Asoka, who are 
mentioned in the Great Chronicle of Ceylon, and whose 

1 For chronology see Rapson, Ancient India, pp. 181-85. 

47 


48 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


remains have recently been discovered at Sanchi and 
Sonari.. By the middle of the second century B.c. these 
tribes were strongly Buddhist enough to win the invading 
Scythians. Their cities of Khotan and Balkh, great cen- 
ters of trade, were centers also of a new religious syncret- 
ism, and in the fourth century of our era, Fa-Hian, first of 
the Chinese pilgrims, who between 399 and 413 A.D. was 
visiting India, hails this region as the second Holy Land of 

uddhism. It was dotted, he tells us, with a thousand 
monasteries, and was the home of the cult of Maitri, the 
coming Buddha. His figure is familiar in the art of Gan- 
dhara, where as a lay-prince he typified the process at work 
in this region by which Buddhism was being transformed 
into a less monastic, more picturesque, and more universal 
religion (a great way—Mahayana) and was being fitted to 
capture peoples less ascetic and other-worldly than those of 
India. Purusapura was the capital of Kanishka, a great 
ruler and a stauncn defender of the faith, in the first century 
A.D.2. If Asoka is the Constantine of Buddhism, Kanishka 
is its Clovis, though the comparison in each case does 
honor to the western ruler. Here at Peshawar a stiipa, the 
remains of one described by Fa-Hian “‘incomparable in 
solemn beauty and majesty,” has been recently unearthed, 
and with it a silver shrine of Greek or Indo-Greek work- 
manship containing remains of Gotama Buddha. It is 
not impossible that further search may lay bare a complete 
commentary upon the Buddhist books, which legend 
tells us the king engraved upon copper, apparently in 
Sanskrit. 


t Archaeological research has several times vindicated the Buddhist chronicles; 
e.g., at Sanchi, Peshawar, Pataliputra (Patna), etc. 


2 Some scholars adhere to an earlier date, about 50 B.c. On this vexed question 
see F. W. Thomas, 7.R.4.S., 1913; Marshall, Punjab Historical Society, 1913, etc. 
The Cambridge History of India gives 78 A.D. as the year of his accession. 





GANDHARA SCULPTURE 


ee a 





GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 49 


His coins testify to the vastness of his empire, and 
some of them to his interest in Buddhism. Beyond this 
it is difficult to say what was the special service which he 
did it. Hiuen-Tsiang tells us that in the four hundredth 
year after the Nirvana, Kanishka, “king of Gandhara, at 
the request of the elder Parsvika, convoked an assembly 
of saintly men, who were conversant with the exoteric 
doctrine of the Three Pitakas, and the esoteric doctrine 
of the Five Vidyas.” It is not possible to be sure that 
this council ever met, still less that it aimed at establish- 
ing a new Buddhism. Indeed, in the Chinese life of 
Vasubandhu it is stated that Kanishka’s object was “‘to 
protect the orthodox from hostile schools and from the 
Mahayana,” and this is borne out by Fa-Hian, who tells 
us that the people of the land were mostly students of 
the Hinayana.? Some action was clearly called for; 
indeed, there was imminent danger that Buddhism 
should lose its individuality; it was beset within and 
without by tendencies religious and philosophical, which 
if they did not overwhelm it certainly changed it from a 
moral reform movement to a pantheistic religion, with 
polytheistic and almost monotheistic expressions. And 
about each god or Buddha centered an elaborate worship 
with liturgies and pomp. “The monks took charge of 
the cult; so that the old chaitya became a temple and the 
monk a priest.” : 

To lay this development upon Kanishka, or upon any 
one man or group is unscientific; it can only be under- 
stood by placing the religion of Buddhism in its context, 
as a part of the complex philosophical and religious move- 


t Others, however, indicate that he was equally a Hindu and a Zoroastrian! Rulers 
of India must needs be tolerant, as Akbar found. 

2 Cf. R. F. Johnston, Buddhist China, p. 34; James Legge, Travels of Fa-Hian, p. 32. 

3 Farquhar, Outlines of the Religious Literature of India, p. 113. 


50 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ments of the day. Some account should be taken of 
Iranian and Greek ideas, such, for example, as those of 
the neo-Platonists, and some of the cult of Mithras, but 
it is better to look chiefly to India herself, and we may 
select aspects of five great movements within Hinduism, 
all of which may well have had their influence upon the 
development of Buddhist doctrine. 

First, we may mention the rationalistic Samkhya, 
which was probably formulated at the same time. as 
Buddhism,’ aims like it at the removal of misery and 
like it rejects the monism of the Upanishads. It teaches 
that from sentient nature there is developed for the sake 
of spirit a whole universe; that nature (prakriti) and 
spirits (purusha) are both eternal; the first universal, 
invisible, and undifferentiated matter; the second, intelli- 
gent but passive spectators, incapable of activity. When 
these two come together the cosmic process begins, and 
the manifold world appears. Mukti or salvation is made 
possible by this coming together, because purusha achieves 
self-realization through it, and so removes or isolates itself 
once more. In this isolation consists salvation. ‘‘The 
soul of the wise matter ceases to be active, as the dancer 
ceases to dance when the spectators are satisfied.”? We 
can see how readily these tenets might influence the ortho- 
dox scholasticism of the Hinayana—on the one hand, in 
its tendency to atheistic interpretations of the teachings 
of Sakyamuni, for the Samkhya, while insisting upon the 
order of the cosmos, sees no need for a God; and idealistic 
schools of the Mahayana, on the other hand, seem to 
borrow some elements from the same complex system. 


‘ Indian tradition says that the Samkhya system anticipated and influenced Bud- 
dhism. 


2 “Samkhya,” £.R.£., Vol. XI. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 1 


Meanwhile more popular expressions of Hinduism 
were also at work, notably the Bhdgavadgita, whose 
doctrine of Krishna-Vishnu and of his grace in taking 
the faithful to paradise seems to have exerted a potent 
influence upon Buddhism in its more popular phases. As 
we shall see in our study of the “Lotus” scripture, the 
Bhagavadgita, while it was itself perhaps influenced by the 
winsome figure of Sakyamuni, helped to work a great 
change in Buddhism, and to crystallize out Mahayana 
tendencies, until a popular and picturesque cult was 
produced, able to compete with polytheistic Hinduism for 
the devotion of the masses. 

This Hinduism, whose gods come down partly from 
the early nature-worship of Vedic times and partly from 
aboriginal cults, is a pantheism in which the absolute 
Brahman takes many forms. If they are multiplied it 
matters nothing; and in any cases the masses will 
a-worshiping go! One striking example is the famous 
trimurti, in which the great processes of creation, destruc- 
tion, and maintenance in being are graphically set forth 
as the gods Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. This conception 
had undoubted influence upon Buddhism; at this time 
it returned to the pantheistic philosophy against which 
it had arisen as a protest, and was ready to compromise 
with all the gods, demigods, demons, and anti-demons 
it met in its onward march. In other words, the monism 
of the Vedanta not only helped to provide Buddhism with 
a philosophy capable of assimilating new gods but influ- 
enced the theological concepts of the Mahayana, which 
begins to surround the Buddha with a veritable pantheon. 
And in this process it may be that the kings and satraps 
of the northwest also had a part. Sociological conditions 
inevitably color theological ideas. 


52 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Lastly, though the Yogacara school of Buddhism did 
not become articulate for some centuries, yet it neverthe- 
less represents the influence upon Buddhism, which began 
as we have seen in the days of the Founder himself, of the 
inveterate Indian practice of Yoga, contemplation, and 
the practice of trance-states, first as a way to secure 
magic powers and later as a way to union with the Eternal. 
With both of these methods Buddhism as it developed 
had points of contact, and before long established a close 
kinship. It contains today elements both of magic and 
of mysticism. 

By the first century a.p. Buddhists might be found 
living side by side in the same monasteries and universities, 
yet influenced by various combinations of these tendencies 
and schools of thought; and to this century belongs the 
crystallization of the new Buddhism from this complex 
solution. It now began to produce a great literature, 
much of which seems to belong to Gandhara, and some to 
its great University of Taxila, or Taksasila,* which lay 
in a pleasant valley now being excavated. The Fatakas 
represent it as the seat of the study of the Three Vedas, 
and Pali became its language of instruction. Here 
Indian, Greek, and Persian culture met and mingled, 
and here Buddhism took on a new and more liberal 
phase. 

We may perhaps trace a beginning of this process in 
the famous Milinda Paiha, which though accepted by 
the orthodox and written in Pali, contains the germs of 
two very important doctrines, which, as they developed, 
separated the popular Mahayana from the more austere 
Hinayana Buddhism. These are the doctrines of salva- 
tion by faith, and of the Bodhisattva, a compassionate 

* Now Rawal Pindi. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 53 


being whose ideal is service, and who is less self-centered 
than the Arhat. Both ideas are, as we have seen, present 
in orthodox Buddhism, but the Milinda Pditha carries 
them a stage farther. It is an apologia in the form of a 
series of dialogues upon the main teachings of the ortho- 
dox, and may well have been compiled to win inquiring 
minds of the day away from the allurements, alike of 
the new Buddhism and of other popular schools of Hindu- 
ism. It is on the whole a work of art, “‘the masterpiece 
of Indian prose,’’* eloquent of the skill and genius of its 
unknown author. We know that King Milinda, or 
Menander, was a Graeco-Bactrian ruler of Kabul and 
Punjab during the second century B.c., and the book must 
belong within a century of this time, when his memory 
was still living; for these Bactrian kings were soon after- 
ward driven out of India. But much work remains to be 
done in sifting the evidence, internal as well as external, 
before the strata into which it is clearly divided can be 
dated with any degree of certainty, and we must be con- 
tent at present to accept the following conclusions: (1) 
that the original work is represented by Parts 2 and 3 
with some of Part 1, where with great animation and 
brilliance of style old questions, such as the nature of 
Nibbana, the Law of Kamma, anatta, and faith are dis- 
cussed by the sage Nagasena; (2) that Part 4, dealing 
with the difficulties raised in the king’s mind after his 
conversion, and ending with his delighted acceptance of 
the wise if not always logical answers of the sage, is of 
later date, added by monks in Ceylon; (3) that Parts 5, 6, 
and 7, with their beautiful if rather fanciful allegory of 
the City of Righteousness,’ their similes of the “mental and 


* Rhys Davids, S.B.Z., Introduction, p. xxxvi. 
2 See my Heart of Buddhism. 


$4 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


moral treasures” of the Arhat, and their proofs of the 
existence of the Blessed One, are similarly late: it is 
significant that they are not included in the Chinese 
translations made in the fourth century. 

These conclusions, tentative as they must be, are 
borne out by the tendency in these latter parts to present 
less vital matters in a less notable style. Very important 
are the facts that the work is almost canonical in authority, 
that it is quoted by the great commentator, Buddhaghosa, 
in the fifth century 4.D., and that it refers to almost all 
the canonical books, though only later passages in it 
refer to the 4bhidhamma. As to its doctrinal tendency 
it must suffice to note two points: (1) that the ideal of 
Arhatship presented verges upon that of the Bodhi- 
sattva, an indication of an early authorship in Northern 
India rather than of late composition in Ceylon, which 
was the citadel of the Sthaviras for many centuries; (2) 
that the evasions of Nagasena which often satisfy the 
king, but leave us with a conviction that he has been 
dodged rather than answered, are evidence of a transition 
period in Buddhist doctrine. Of this transition a good 
example is afforded by the second question in Part 3, 
where Milinda asks how it is that an evil man can go toa 
heaven simply by thinking at the moment of death about 
the Buddha, and where Nagasena shirks the real point 
at issue by asking whether a great load of stones is not 
borne on the water by a boat; very good, the load of a 
man’s sins is borne by his good deeds! Here clearly is an 
attempt to disguise what is really a doctrine of bhakti, 
or saving faith, by calling it a doctrine of works. And 
when we turn to the Chinese version we are not surprised 
to find that it contains a more definite acceptance of the 
doctrine that it is the sinner’s “earnest thought”’ of the 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 55 


Buddha that carries him across. In Part 2 of the Pali 
text we find faith described in orthodox terms; a crowd 
of frightened people are standing trembling on the brink 
of a river in flood when there comes along one who knows 
his own powers and leaps across; so does the good recluse 
“by faith aspire to leap, as by a bound, to higher things.” 
In much the same way the sage deals, or fails to deal, with 
the king’s shrewd question: ‘How reconcile the repeated 
assertions of the Buddha that there is no escape from 
Death, with his promulgation of the Pirit service, a 
magical performance for prolonging life?’ To which, 
of course, the true answer is that if the Master ever did 
sanction any such absurd superstition—well, the less 
Master he! But the Sage once more, like divines in all 
periods of transition who seek at once to be orthodox and 
to appear honest, evades the issue. So instructive are 
his wrigglings that they should be carefully studied by 
every student of the history of religion, where a true 
Mysticism is ever seeking to shake off the coils of Magic. 
We may be sure that Sakyamuni himself taught neither 
the efficacy of a death-bed piety, nor of a muttered incan- 
tation; but human needs are imperious, and human 
minds not always logical, and by the time of Nagasena 
these doctrines had clearly established themselves so 
firmly as to be regarded as of the essence of orthodoxy. 
Here, of course, the question arises, “Which Nagasena ?” 
and we can only answer that the first point is taken up 
in a part of the book that is of early date, and that while 
the second belongs to a later date, yet the doctrine of 
Pirit is contained in the canonical Khuddaka Nikdya. 
Faced with the popular Mahayana, perhaps it was too 
much to expect of the orthodox that they should adhere 
to the austere doctrine of Sakyamuni in all its stoical 


56 EKPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


purity. It is barely possible that he himself, as Pro- 
fessor Poussin’ and all Mahayana Buddhists maintain, 
accommodated his teachings to suit his audiences. But 
I prefer to believe that in questions of truth he made no 
such compromise. Indeed, he seems. to have chosen to 
be labeled agnostic, rather than pander to human weak- 
ness. And it is one of the strange ironies of history that 
this great Stoic should become not only a god, but the 
sanction for strange and wonderful practices of magic and 
superstition. 

Another great literary masterpiece of this period is the 
Lalita Vistara,a Buddha-epic with Mahayana tendencies, 
based on an earlier work of the Sarvastivada, which praises 
the Buddha as Supreme, and reveals him surrounded, as 
in the sculptures of this period, with adoring Bodhisattvas. 

At this time also was compiled the Sutralamkara? of 
Asvaghoéa, a collection of ninety stories notable for their 
fine narrative style and for their wide range of interest. 
All India and Ceylon are mentioned, but the northwest 
is the chief setting of these anecdotes, and Kanishka is the 
hero of two of them. | 

The Sutralamkara gives us a valuable picture of Indian 
life in its many phases as it was during this epoch. Kings, 
Brahmins, monks, ascetics, and a whole procession of arti- 
sans, sweepers, washermen, courtesans, and clowns, pass 
before us. Sixty-four classical arts are enumerated, and 
keen religious and intellectual activity is manifest; the 
author represents Kanishka as punished by a miracle for 
coquetting with Jainism; he attacks the Brahmins ruth- 
lessly, and he discusses various heresies; he refutes the 
Samkhya and Vaisesika philosophies, and claims that the 


t The Way to Nirvana, pp. 136-37. 
2 French translation by Huber. Paris: Leroux, 1908. Translated into Chinese 
in the fifth century. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA $7 


word of the Buddha has spread in writings all over the 
world! 

Among the many delightful episodes of this collection 
we may mention that of the conversion of the sweeper, 
Niti, who is ashamed to meet the Buddha haloed and 
glorious as he walks through Rajagriha; but the Master 
pursues him and bids him be of good cheer: “His body 
may be foul, but his heart is fragrant with the excellence 
of the Good Law”: and when Niti still hesitates, reminds 
him that the Perfect One is not concerned with caste but 
with actions past and present, and ordains him monk. 
This is clearly the story of Sunita told in the Theragatha;* 
and other tales, such as the “Story of King Longshanks,” 
are taken from the Suftas. Another which shows Maha- 
yana influence is that of the Sakyamuni’s aunt and 
foster-mother, the Lady Gotami, who attains Nibbana 
through his grace. “I am the Mother of the Perfect 
One,” she says, “but he is my Father; I am reborn in his 
law. It is I who fed his mortal body (rupakaya) but he 
has fed my immortal body (dharmakaya); I satisfied his 
thirst for an instant; he has extinguished mine forever.” 
The Buddha shows his body with its thirty-two marks, 
and its eighty secondary perfections, and she enters 
Nirvana. In this work Asvaghoga shows himself scholar 
and poet as in his earlier epic, the Buddha Carita, an 
eloquent biography of Sakyamuni. A convert from Brah- 
manism first to the Sarvastivadino, then to the Mahayana, 
Asvaghoga was the sweet singer of this period, and wrote 
his epic in Sanskrit, which now began to take the place 
of Pali as the sacred language. Whether or not we believe 
the legend which tells how Kanishka accepted him in 

t Ceclxii. 


2 B.N., 1351; §.B.£., Vol. XLIX, Part I, translated into Chinese by Dharma- 
raksha in 420 A.D. 


58 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ransom for Patali-putra, capital of Saketa, we can imagine 
this great poet—“‘one of the greatest of the predecessors 
of Kalidasa”—leading the Buddhist choirs in antiphonal 
praise of their Master, now being deified and becoming 
the type for new divinities in India; “Salutation to the 
Arhat,” it begins, “unequaled, bestower of happiness, 
surpassing the Creator; vanquisher of darkness, greater 
than the sun; dispeller of heat, greater than the beauteous 
moon.” Though the poem does not itself go much 
beyond the Pali canon in its Buddhology, it was no doubt 
understood and recited in some monasteries of Gandhara 
and Kashmir by those whose conceptions of his person 
are embodied in the still more famous Sukhavati Vyuha 
and Saddharma Pundarika, which seem to have been 
composed about the same time and in the same north- 
western region. 

The larger Sukhavati Vyitha, or “Book of the Paradise 
of Bliss,” was translated into Chinese between 148 and 
170 A.D., and belongs to a popular and rather unreflec- 
tive Buddhism, which allures its followers by elaborate 
descriptions of the Western Paradise, where reigns 
Amitabha, one of countless Buddhas, and whither, like 
Vishnu, he conducts the faithful. This Paradise Ma- 
hayana we shall study more fully in the following 
chapter, for it was elaborated in the period which saw 
the rise of the philosophical schools, as a popular offset 
no doubt to their intricacies. Of the larger Sukhavati 
Vyiiha there have been at least twelve Chinese transla- 
tions, the first possibly by Anshikao 148-70 a.p.; the 
last by Fa-Hian, 982-1001. None agrees entirely with 
the Sanskrit text. The book is in essence a dialogue 
between Ananda and his Master on the Vulture Peak 

t B.N., 23 (5); 8.B.E., Vol. XLIX, Part II. 





NOILVATVS HO dIHS S.WHAVLINV 





GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 59 


before a vast audience of Arhats. We hear from the lips 
of Sakyamuni himself of a long line of eighty-one Buddhas 
from Dipankara to Lokesvaraja, and of the vow of a monk, 
Dharmakara, during the era of the latter that he would 
become a Buddha, “equal the unequalled, and be peer 
of the peerless.” 

This pranidhana, or vow, Lokesvaraja accepted" and 
under his tuition Dharmakara learned the innumerable 
excellent qualities of the Buddha. Emulating those 
which seem to him most noble, he shows his own nobility 
by a famous utterance known as the King of Pranidhanas, 
or vows: “Oh Blessed One,” he cries to his teacher, “if 
after I have attained Buddhahood all Bodhisattvas living 
in these Buddha-lands attain it not as they hear my name 
and share my merit ....may I not attain to that 
perfect enlightenment!” This parinamana, or dedica- 
tion of his merit (an important link between primitive 
and developed Buddhism), if not quite logical in its 
expression, is none the less completely successful, and the 
pious monk becomes Amitabha or Amitayu, Buddha of 
Endless Light and Life, whose excellences are inexhaustible 
and whose Western Paradise “lacks no beautiful and 
pleasant thing”; above all it is free from those hindrances 
which make attainment of Bodhi so hard to dwellers upon 
earth. 

Here, then, we see the Buddhist heart demanding 
satisfaction and realizing that all things are possible to 
love; and that love is itself the motive, the method, and 
the reward of righteous living. 

The luxuriance and enthusiasm with which the 
Sukhavatt Vyitha abounds are eloquent too of the hunger 

* This acceptance, Vyakarana, is called by Anesaki a “‘cosmic response.” Unlike 


Margaret Fuller, who “accepted the universe,” the Mahayana monk asks the universe 
to accept him. 


a 


60 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


of Buddhist hearts for a heavenly city, where attainment 
and satisfaction are not impossible. In this apocalyptic 
heaven and in the cult of the Maitri Buddha which belongs 
to the same era we may see evidence that, the attainment 
of Arhatship having ceased, men were constrained to find 
satisfaction in contemplating either rebirth in a new era 
of enthusiasm or in a Paradise beyond this vale of tears. 
And the divine figures of Amitabha and Avalokitesvara 
embody no doubt, while they help to inspire, the new 
ethical ideal of service and compassion which are one of 
the hallmarks of the new movement; men create God in 
their own image, but he is also in this very process mold- 
ing them nearer to his own likeness. 

Striking and significant as is the Sukhavati Vyitha, it 
is eclipsed by the amazing book known as the “Lotus of 
the True Law” (Saddharma Pundarika)* which also has 
apocalyptic elements. It is nearly as long as the whole 
New Testament, and like it is addressed in the main not 
to the wise but to the simple. Yet like the Fourth Gospel 
it has a message to the philosopher too, and frees Bud- 
dhism by its bold Buddhology from any dependence upon 
history. It is found today in every Japanese temple, and 
has had an immense power of kindling devotion, of inspir- 
ing art, and of instituting remarkable reform movements 
like that of Nichiren, the Buddhist prophet of Japan. 
His biographer, Dr. Anesaki, writes: 

“The Lotus of Truth” is a rich treasury of religious inspiration 
and moral precepts, prophetic visions and poetic imagery, philosophical 
speculation and practical admonition. From this book all ages and 
every man in Buddhist countries derived some sort of instruction and 
inspiration, each according to his need and his disposition? 


1 B.N., pp. 134, 139; first translated into Chinese in 253 a.v. The original work 
cannot be placed later than the second century a.p.; S.B.E., Vol. XXI. With the 
Sukhavati Vyitha and the Gandavyitha it is quoted by Nagarjuna (see chap. iv). 


2 Nichiren, p. 31. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 61 


Its influence upon the civilization of Japan can only be 
realized by careful study of that wonderful land. 

Today, owing chiefly to the “Lotus” scripture, millions 
think of Sakyamuni as eternally alive and gracious, 
seated in splendor on an idealized Vulture Peak: 


A mirage was the smoke of Shaka’s pyre 
That seemed at Kusinagara to rise; 
Death could not bind him, nor might fire 
Destroy the Teacher of such verities. 

Hark! He yet liveth, and doth speak 
Eternal Wisdom from the Vulture Peak. 


Great temple-pictures help the worshiper to visualize the 
scene, showing the Teacher as he rises triumphant from 
the bier; and others make real to the Mahayana Buddhist 
the conception of a glorified Master seated in the midst 
of his five hundred disciples, and preaching the New 
Evangel. Though modern Buddhist scholars like D. T. 
Suzuki may see in these representations “the fictitious 
creations of an intensely poetic mind,” yet most Buddhists 
are neither scholars nor critical, and it 1s unquestionably 
true that they accept the teachings of the “Lotus” as the 
developed doctrine of the historic Sakyamuni at the end 
of his long career as a teacher. 

The book may be said to have three main sections: 
(1) an Introduction, of which chapter 11 is the core, 
explaining the cause and object of the appearing of the 
historic Buddha; (2) the main body of the book, of which 
chapter xv is the core, revealing the eternity of his being; 
and (3) the conclusion, of which chapter xx is the core, 
reveals the efficacy of his teaching and his eternal author- 
ity. Dr. Anesaki says: 


In other words, we have in the first place the actual appearance of 
the Buddha among men as their Father and the Lord of the World; 


62 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


then is revealed the original essence (agra) of the Tathagata, existing 
and acting from eternity (chiram); in the conclusion we have the 
assurance of the endurance of his personal influence.” 


The “Lotus” has often been likened to the Johannine 
writings, and is clearly the product like them of devout 
meditation upon historical facts; and like the Fourth 
Gospel it lays great emphasis upon the three central ideas 
of Eternal Light, Love, and Life. Written apparently 
first in metrical form, it was also put later into prose and 
as in the Apocalypse prose passages are relieved by 
poems. To the critical eye it is no more historical 
than the Apocalypse itself. Both foretell a new order of 
the redeemed. In the prelude “of rather monstrous 
grandeur,” as a Japanese Buddhist has said, “we see the 
idealized Sakyamuni on a heavenly Vulture Peak and 
identified with the Eternal Buddha.” As he sits there, 
surrounded by living creatures from Bodhisattvas to the 
animal creation, “tense with wondering expectation of 
what the lord Buddha is going to reveal,” we feel that he 
is about to give us one of those “admirable exhibitions” 
which from time to time relieve the monotony of his age- 
long silence. We are not disappointed; a vast ray of 
light pours from the urna on his brow, and like some mon- 
strous searchlight reveals the utmost regions of space—a 
sign that he is about to speak. Maitri addresses Mafi- 
jusri, the crown prince, or president of the assembly, who 
as attendant upon many a Buddha may be expected to 
understand their habits: 

Why does this ray sent out by the guide of men shine forth from 
between his brows? I see the whole universe . . . . with all beings 


. . the Buddhas, those lions of kings, revealing the essence of the 
Law, comforting many myriads of creatures, and sending out their 


t“Docetism,” £.R.E., IV, 839. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 63 


sweet voices . .. . announcing to ignorant and fear-laden men the 
bliss of rest. “This is the end of toil and pain, oh monks.” .... I 
see bodhisattvas in myriads like the sands of the Ganges producing 
enlightenment as they are able..... Some are giving away jewels 
and servants, horses and sheep... . gladly sacrificing these things 
to buy for themselves a higher stage of enlightenment. .... Some 
give away wives and children .... yes their own hands and feet, 
their heads and eyes . . . . and aspire to the knowledge of the Tatha- 
gata... . and I see here and there some sons of the great conqueror, 
their own training completed, preaching the Law to myriads with 
great joy, arousing many bodhisattvas..... Some there are whose 
strength is in patience and forbearance, and some who through wisdom 
reach enlightenment. .... Why has the Blessed One emitted this 
great light? Oh! how great is his power! How holy is his knowledge! 
. . . - Is he about to show us the eternal laws which he found upon the 
terrace of Enlightenment? Or is he to prophesy and reveal to the 
bodhisattvas their future destiny ? 


To which Mafjusri replies, having first given some 
details as to the habits of Buddhas, that the Blessed One 
is about “‘to pour forth the good rain of the Law, to beat 
its great drum, to raise its great banner, to kindle its 
great torch, to blow a blast upon its great trumpet... . 
the Lion of the Sakyas will declare the fixed principles of 
the Law. He in his affection and mercy will pour out 
the refreshing rain upon the expectant multitude.” 

At last he speaks, but it is only to express the difficulty 
and profundity of the doctrine. Yielding, however, to 
their importunity, he consents to reveal it, at which five 
thousand proud monks and nuns salute him and depart. 
Congratulating the rest upon having thus been winnowed 
of the chaff, he proceeds to reveal the central object of 
his mission on earth; it is for one object only: to show all 
creatures the true Buddha-knowledge, and to open their 
eyes. Though there is but one road to Nirvana, yet in 
his skilful tact (upaya) he has opened three gates, one for 


64 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Sravakas, or candidates for Arhatship; one for Pratyéka 
Buddhas, who are inclined to lonely meditation and 
solitary achievement; one for Buddhas who are sociable 
and altruistic. There is but one vehicle, the Buddha- 
vehicle, and even boys who in their play dedicate their 
little sand-heaps to the Victorious One, even they reach 
enlightenment; yea, even such as absent-mindedly have 
made one single act of homage at a Buddha shrine. 
Great is the skill of the teacher; “‘Buddhas ye shall all 
become. Rejoice and be no longer doubting or uncertain!” 

Such is the new gospel, and several parables in the 
next three sections bring home the teaching that men in 
different ways accept what is given to them; plants take 
each what they need from the impartial rain; the oculist 
gradually accustoms the eye to the light; a father rescues 
his children from a burning house by devices suited to 
their different understanding—so does this Teacher of 
gods and men, this spiritual Father of all, adapt his 
lessons with skilful pedagogy. Let them all teach the 
Sutra, which alone reveals the essence of the faith, enter- 
ing the abode of the Blessed One which is his strong Love, 
donning his robe which is Forbearance, and sitting in his 
seat which is the doctrine of Sinyata or emptiness. So 
shall all become Buddhas, winning their way to the posi- 
tive Nirvana, as their leader by great and heroic persever- 
ance throughout many ages has won through to it. To 
each by name he gives a word of cheer, and while all are 
rejoicing in the good news, there comes an apocalyptic 
vision of a stupa containing the faint and emaciated body 
of the former Buddha, Prabhutaratna; a seven-fold light 
shines from it, and a voice comes forth praising the work 


* As we shall see in the next chapter, this doctrine of Sinyata has two different 
applications: the phenomenal world is sinya, having only relative reality, but absolute 
reality is also sinya—transcendent. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 65 


of the Tathagata, and expounding the “Lotus.” All 
present salute, and from the utmost confines of the uni- 
verse, again lit up by a ray from the Buddha’s brow, 
come the heavenly hosts in worship; the old Buddha 
graciously invites the new one to share his throne, and 
confesses his own desire to hear the “Lotus” gospel. 
Whereupon Sakyamuni reveals that the time for his 
departure is at hand, and calls for volunteers to proclaim 
the gospel to all the universe. Mafijusri now modestly 
declares that he has already preached it with such effect 
that the eight-year-old daughter of the Naga king has 
reached enlightenment, and even false Devadatta has 
become a Buddha. Many are ready-to preach this good 
news for babes and sinners, and are taught the qualifica- 
tions of steadfastness and patient meekness under many 
trials, of circumspectness in sex and other relationships, 
of a practical grasp of the Sinyata philosophy leading to 
detachment, of a quiet and equable mind, and of a life 
of charity and benevolence. There follows a pause of 
many million years, and Buddhas from many worlds 
appear—great multitudes whom no man can number. 
Who are they? They are disciples whom the Buddha 
has aroused to perfect enlightenment, his spiritual sons, 
of whom he is eternal Lord and Father, self-existent, 
supreme Spirit, Creator, Ruler, and Destroyer of the 
Universe. The events of his historical life are skilful 
adaptations, part of his gracious strategy to win men. 
As a wise physician may feign death in order to move his 
disobedient children to take the medicine nothing else 
- will induce them to touch, so by an emptying of himself 
the eternal Buddha became man for the sake of the erring 
family of men. And as a father departs to a far country 
so the great Physician has left the world that his erring 


66 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


and ailing children may use the medicines he has 
prescribed. 

Such is the Buddhology of the “Lotus,” and it intro- 
duces us also to figures destined to play a great part in 
the Mahayana, Avalokitesvara, Mafijusri, Samanta- 
bhadra, Bhaisajyaraja, and Maitri. To the first especially 
an eloquent chapter is devoted; he is revealed under 
whatever form will prove most helpful, as a woman when 
women are to be helped, and in many a varying guise. 

This most popular of all Bodhisattvas, known to China 
as Kwanyin and to Japan as Kwannon, is surely a noble 
conception of the divine nature. Glorious too is the 
healing King Bhesajyaraja who sets himself on fire and 
burns through thousands of years to show respect to 
Sakyamuni and his new gospel,’ while Mafijusri and 
Mahasthamaprapta are incarnations of wisdom, and 
keep their place even in the highly emotional Buddhism 
which now begins to come to the fore. 

In what sense is the Buddha Sakyamuni Father? In 
the sense of spiritual teacher and begetter of men in the 
truth, with which he is and has ever been one. Even dull 
and sinful beings may share his eternal life and realize 
their true nature; for he is Love as well as Light. 
Supreme Spirit, Creator, Physician, All-knowing, Great 
Father he appears, another Krishna, whenever unbelief is 
triumphing. 

Such in the barest outline is the “Lotus of the True 
Law,” which has been well called “an undeveloped 
mystery play”; but which is for the Mahaydanist “the 
very cream of orthodoxy,” the “crown jewel of the 
Sutras,” and, as Professor Poussin has pointed out, it is 

? §.B.E., XXI, xxi-xxii, deal with Bhaisajyaraja; chaps. xxi-xxvi are probably 


a third-century addition, e.g., chap. xxi deals with spells and chap. xxii recommends the 
un-Buddhistic practices of self-torture and suicide. 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 67 


so carefully worded that like the Gia it is capable of 
various interpretations—pantheist, theist, or even atheist.” 
“The conception of Krishna-Vishnu as the Supreme is 
adapted to Buddhist conceptions,” says Farquhar.? 

The “Lotus” is possibly intended to combat certain 
docetic tendencies of the time. The Sakyamuni of history 
is its central fact, but he is now related to the Eternal 
Order, and in this and other ways it resembles the Johan- 
nine books of the Christian church. It may well serve 
as a bridge between followers of the two great religions. 
He who has seen the Buddha of the “Lotus” is not 
unprepared for the Christ of the Apocalypse, or even of the 
Fourth Gospel. 

I had recently the privilege of listening to an exposition 
of Buddhism by a Japanese monk, and my companion 
asked: “Is this not a modernized Buddhism ?” The next 
day, as I was trying to give my version of Christianity to a 
group of Buddhist professors, one of them exclaimed: 
“That is exactly what we believe about God. Is it not 
neo-Christianity ?” I could only give them a copy of 
the Fourth Gospel, and my revered friend, the Honorable 
Mrs. E. A. Gordon, whose influence among the Buddhist 
priests of Japan is very far-reaching, tells me that when 
she had given a copy of this book to a monk of the sect 
which makes most of the “Lotus,” he changed entirely 
in his attitude, which had been offensive, and came back 
exclaiming: “This is a Buddhist book, or I am reading 
my own ideas into it.” 

If it were not tragic it would be comic indeed that the 
followers of the two greatest religions of the world are 
still sitting for the most part in opposite camps, ignoring 

* E.RE., VIL, 145. 

? Outlines of the Religious Literature of India, p. 115. 


68 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


or misinterpreting one another’s beliefs. I would make 
a plea not only for an attempt to understand one another, 
but for resolute co-operation in all idealistic enterprises. 
The enemies today are materialism and militarism, 
and Christianity and Buddhism, as it has developed 
in China and Japan, without trying to prove that one 
has borrowed from the other—an odious phrase when 
applied to spiritual things—may humbly confess that 
each has received the truth as a free gift from the 
Father of Lights, who is indeed a wise physician of 
souls, and knows best how the truth may be revealed 
to each nation as to each individual. Impressed and 
awed by the solemn and beautiful ritual of Buddhist 
temples in Japan, the Christian student will be deeply 
moved as he begins to immerse himself in their teachings, 
and in the Wasan, or hymns, in common use he will find 
that ideas and titles of the Buddha which seem to him 
most Christian can be traced back to the Sukhavaii 
Vyitha, the “Lotus”’ scripture, and to the later “Awaken- 
ing of Faith.” 

From Gandhara there went out not only these early 
scriptures of the Mahayana but also the famous Graeco- 
Buddhist art which so clearly links India and the 
Western World, and both these spread not only south- 
ward and eastward into India but also up into the lands 
of Central Asia. Here many of these masterpieces of the 
new Buddhism have been discovered by the Stein and 
Pelliot expeditions, which are adding to our knowledge 
and appreciation of the great influence which Buddhism 
exerted over these wild lands. They are known by the 
general name of Chinese Turkestan, and form a long, 
narrow tract of upland now almost desert; it is about 
1,200 miles long and in most parts less than 400 miles 


GANDHARA AND PURUSAPURA 69 


broad, and stretches from the Pamirs on the west to the 
Chinese frontier on the east. Legend has it that into these 
lands of Kashgar Khotan and Yarkand the Emperor 
Asoka banished certain peoples of Taxila, and that they 
took with them the Indian culture of their day. But it is 
more likely that these lands were civilized during the time 
of Kanishka, and it is certain that the recent discoveries 
show not only Indian and Chinese influence but also 
that of Greek and Roman mythology. There is little 
doubt that these lands themselves played a great part in 
the development of Buddhist art, and in the preparation 
of Buddhism to fit the peoples of the Far East. 

Vast, then, has been the influence and benign the 
teaching that radiated out from the lands over which 
Kanishka ruled; notable have been the services to human- 
ity of these anonymous theologians; they are the real 
fathers of the Mahayana, who did for Sakyamuni what 
Plato did for Socrates, or, as some critics would say, what 
the Johannine writers did for Jesus of Nazareth. By 
their genius they transformed Buddhism into a religion 
of universal scope, capable of going out and winning lands 
like China and Japan. Moreover, though they opened 
a door for the return of Hindu doctrines and gods into the 
house which Sakyamuni had swept and garnished, they 
did the great service of meeting certain docetic tendencies 
which were seeking to explain him away as an apparition, 
and they put upon a sound basis the Buddhology without 
which Buddhism might have remained a creed for the 
monk and the nun. 


CHAPTER (TV 


NALANDA AND THE EARLY SCHOOLMEN OF 
THE MAHAYANA (ca. 150 A.D.) 


“The doctrine of unreality is the first gate to Mahayana.” —PrRajNA- 
PARAMITA. 

“ Everything arises according to causation: we regard it all as void.” — 
NAGARJUNA. 

“The Buddha sitteth on his Lion Throne, yet dwelleth in every atom.” — 
AVATAMSAKA. 

Between the popular Mahayana of the “Lotus” and 
the Paradise Sutras and the philosophical schools which 
we are now to study a link is to be found in the Avatamsaka 
Sutra. Parts of this great book were already in existence 
by the second century a.D., for, like the “Lotus” and the 
Sukhavati Vyiha, it is quoted by Nagarjuna, and his 
transcendental philosophy seems to owe much to its 
idealism. The book consists of a series of Gathas in 
praise of the Buddha Sakyamuni, who is introduced to 
us at the moment of enlightenment, when he is samadhi, 
and the “universe and all things in it are serenely reflected 
in his mind as the starry heavens are mirrored in the calm 
sea.” Innumerable hosts of Bodhisattvas, Devas, and 
other spiritual beings praise him as coexistent with the 
universe, the sustainer of all things, dwelling equally in 
the smallest atom and upon his Lion Throne. He 
enlightens all, and all receive his message, each in his 


1 First translated into Chinese in the early fourth century a.p. by Buddhabhadra. 
It has greatly influenced the Buddhism of the Far East; the Chinese versions, which 
are of varying length, contain sections which seem to be identical with the Gandhavyiiha 
and Dasabhimika of the Sanskrit text of Nepal. It is possible that part of it was 
translated into Chinese as early as 170 A.D. and Nagarjuna’s commentary on it in the 
fourth century. A good abridged translation is appearing in the Eastern Buddhist, 
Kyoto. 


7° 


NALANDA 71 


own way. All worlds are manifested in him, and “his 
love is boundless as the immensity of space.” He is 
beyond mortal comprehension, yet for the sake of all beings 
he takes earthly shape and appears to those who seek him, 
like the full moon rising over a mountain. Let them but 
think of him for a moment and they will be forever saved 
from evil and misery; his for all eternity is the task of 
enlightening the world. Here too we read praises of the 
Bodhisattva Samantabhadra who “has practiced all deeds 
pure and holy, and has bathed all beings in the wide waters 
of his compassion.” He in turn extols Vairochana, the 
Sun Buddha, and his Buddha Land. Knowing him, we 
know the universe anew as one of complete mutual 
interdependence and interpenetration. All things are in 
each and each in all. He manifests his nirmanakaya 
or adapted body universally, and his creative power is 
present in every particle of dust. In this world he is 
known as Sakyamuni, Victor, Savior, and by other great 
names, but in other worlds he is known by other names— 
Beloved Father, Path-Finder, Compassionate Lord, 
Brother of All, and Giver of All. Here, then, is a parallel 
to the later Pauline theology; the historic teacher is dis- 
covered not only to have cosmic significance but to be the 
source of cosmic life, through whom, in whom, and unto 
whom are all things. 

As to the nature of reality the Avatamsaka teaches 
that things are unreal because they are always changing, 
yet real because in each this great Buddha and all other 
existences are present. 

From such beginnings the philosophy of the Mahayana 
proceeds, and it takes many forms. It may perhaps 
most conveniently be grouped around the monasteries of 
Rajagaha and Patali-putra, about which there gathered 


7 EKPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


during the next two centuries the great University of 
Nalanda. Here the doctrines of Sunyataé and of the 
Dharmakaya were developed by Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, 
and many another subtle thinker. Beginning with the 
tenet of impermanence, or Sunyata (the anicca, anatta, of 
Sakyamuni), they develop it variously. The Madhya- 
maka of Nagarjuna in the second century teaches that 
all is unreal except the one great Reality, of which we 
can neither predicate existence nor non-existence; it 
transcends experience and is unknowable, the Void. This 
transcendentalism led on by a natural transition to the 
idealism of the Yogacara or Vijfianavada, which con- 
ceives this ultimate unknowable and ineffable reality as 
Mind. Here, then, we see a transition by natural steps 
from the teachings of Sakyamuni, who was agnostic as to 
the Absolute, to a doctrine of the Absolute which differs 
little from that of the monistic Vedanta.* “All is tran- 
sient,’ Sakyamuni had said, “for all is causally determined 
and is composed of elements. Nibbana alone is the un- 
compounded, the abiding.” As to any other absolute, he 
refused to speak. His followers of the Theravada denied 
what he had ignored, and some of them went on also to 
deny any substantial existence either in the mind of man 
or in the phenomenal world. Against this barren doctrine 
many schools of the Mahayana protested that thought, 
at any rate, is real and that however illusory are phenom- 
ena there is an underlying Reality. 

Theologically conceived He, or It, is the Dharmakaya, 
Absolute Truth which manifests itself as the Nirman: 
akaya incarnate among men in the Buddhas. This 
doctrine was worked up from the stage at which the 
Avatamsaka left it by the schoolmen of the University 


t Hindu critics of Vedanta monism accuse it of being Vijfianavada Buddhism! 


NALANDA 73 


of Nalanda. Of this great university we must gain some 
impression before making a further study of its schools. 
Fire and the sword of Islam have long since destroyed 
the venerable university, and its stones, “‘long buried by 
myriads of little Indian ploughs,” are today being un- 
covered by the archaeologist. But for a thousand years 
it did a noble work and a detailed history of Nalanda 
“would be the history of Mahayana from the time of 
Nagarjuna in the second century A.D., or possibly even 
earlier, until the Muhammadan conquest of Bihar in 1219 
A.D., a period well over a millennium. All the most noted 
scholars of Mahayana seem to have studied at Nalanda.”* 
A catholic spirit worthy of a great university seems to 
have reigned, and side by side with the scholars of the 
new Buddhism worked the “eighteen schools”’ of the old, 
apparently in great harmony. So we learn from Hiuen- 
Tsiang, and from his diary and that of I-Tsing we can 
reconstruct a picture of the university at its zenith. To 
travel-worn and weary pilgrims, both of them scholars 
and monks, what a haven of refuge it was! How eagerly 
they describe its peace and dignity, its intellectual 
achievements, its devotion to the cause they had at heart. 
To Hiuen-Tsiang especially it was unspeakably dear, for 
he had paid a great price toreachit. “Take the Master’s 
tattered robes, let the winds of Gobi whistle through your 
sleeve and cut you to the bone; mount his rusty red nag 
anduset yout face to the West. ... . ” Then after this 
bitter journey at last “the great ice Mountains loom in 
front of you and you crawl like an ant and cling like a 
fly to the roof of the world,” until “‘on the topmost sum- 
mit still far away from the promised land, you realize 
* Vincent Smith, “Nalanda,” E.R.E., Vol. IX. 


2 Hiuen-Tsiang’s journey was 629-45 a.D.; I-Tsing’s, 671-95 a.D. 


74 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


two things—the littleness of human life, and the great- 
ness of one indomitable soul.” 

How great a soul it was, “‘dauntless in disaster, 
unmoved in the hour of triumph, counting the perils of 
the bone-strewn plain and the -unconquered hills as 
nothing to the ideal that lay before him, the life-work, 
the call of the Holy Himalayas and the long toil of his 
closing years.’”* It is good to think of that long respite 
in the groves and lecture-halls of Nalanda. How lovingly 
he lingers on its charms: 


The whole establishment is surrounded by a brick wall, which 
encloses the entire convent from without. One gate opens into the 
great college, from which are separated eight other halls, standing in 
the middle (of the Sanghaéréma). The richly adorned towers, and the 
fairy-like turrets, like pointed hill-tops, are congregated together. 
The observatories seem to be lost in the vapours (of the morning), 
and the upper rooms tower above the clouds. 

From the windows one may see how the winds and the clouds 
(produce new forms); and above the soaring eaves the conjunctions of 
the sun and moon (may be observed). 

And then we may add how the deep, translucent ponds, bear on 
their surface the blue lotus, intermingled with the Kie-ni (Kanaka) 
flower, of deep red colour, and at intervals the Amra groves spread 
over all their shade. 

All the outside courts, in which are the priests’ chambers, are of 
four stages. The stages have dragon-projections and coloured eaves; 
the pearl-red pillars, carved and ornamented, the richly adorned 
balustrades, and the roofs covered with tiles that reflect the light in a 
thousand shades, these things add to the beauty of the scene. 

The Sangharamas of India are counted by myriads, but this is the 
most remarkable for grandeur and height. The priests, belonging to 
the convent, or strangers (residing therein) always reach to the number 
of 10,000, who all study the Great Vehicle, and also (the works belonging 
to) the eighteen sects, and not only so, but even ordinary works, such 
as the Védas and other books, the Hetuvidy4, SabdavidyA, the Chikit- 
sAvidya, the works on Magic (Atharvavéda), the Safikhya; besides 

tL. Cranmer Byng in Beal’s Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, Introduction. 


NALANDA a6 


these they thoroughly investigate the “miscellaneous” works. There 
are 1,000 men who can explain twenty collections of Sitrds and Sastras; 
500 who can explain thirty collections, and perhaps ten men, including 
the Master of the Law, who can explain fifty collections.* Stlabhadra 
alone has studied and understood the whole number. His eminent 
virtue and advanced age have caused him to be regarded as the chief 
member of the community. Within the Temple they arrange every 
day about too pulpits for preaching, and the students attend these 
discourses without any fail, even for a minute (az inch shadow on the 
dial). 

The priests dwelling here are, as a body, naturally (or spontaneously) 
dignified and grave, so that during the 700 years since the foundation 
of the establishment there has been no single case of guilty rebellion 
against. the rules. 

The King of the country respects and honours the priests, and has 
remitted the revenues of about 100 villages for the endowment of the 
ONWEN EC. 4 15/057 


From I-Tsing’s Buddhist Records of the Western World 


we get a later, but not less enthusiastic, account: 


The priests, to the number of several thousands, are men of the 
highest ability and talent. Their distinction is very great at the 
present time, and there are many hundreds whose fame has rapidly 
spread through distant regions. Their conduct is pure and unblamable. 
They follow in sincerity the precepts of the moral law. The rules of 
this convent are severe, and all the priests are bound to observe them. 
The countries of India respect them and follow them. The day is 
not sufficient for asking and answering profound questions. From 
morning till night they engage in discussion; the old and the young 
mutually help one another. Those who cannot discuss questions out of 
the Tripitaka are little esteemed, and are obliged to hide themselves 
for shame. Learned men from different cities, on this account, who 
desire to acquire quickly a renown in discussion, come here in multi- 
tudes to settle their doubts, and then the streams (of their wisdom) 
spread far and wide. For this reason some persons usurp the name 
(of Nalanda students), and in going to and fro receive honour in conse- 
quence. 


t I.e., Hiuen-Tsiang himself. 2 Beal, op. cit., pp. 111-12. 


76 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


We learn too that heresies had arisen “‘like clouds 
of ants and bees’’; so it may be imagined that occasional 
heresy-hunts kept life from stagnation, and gave point 
to the labors of the orthodox. 

Such was the University of Nalanda, a very haven of 
refuge to the pilgrims. How good to find one’s self again 
in the haunts of learning and to exchange the brandishing 
of intellectual for that of material swords—to defend the 
faith instead of one’s own life—to exchange spiritual 
gifts instead of delivering one’s goods to the footpads of 
the hills. It was a haven indeed: “Here ten thousand 
priests sought refuge from the world of passing phe- 
nomena and the lure of the senses.” 

No wonder that the Scriptures increased in volume, 
and that art and sculpture developed; we read of a student 
painting a picture of the coming Buddha Maitri or 
Metteyya, whose cult throve in the northwest; and of 
the worship of Avalokitesvara and of Tara. 

But these are later developments, and we must return 
to the early schoolmen of the university. Let us look 
first at the Prajia-paramita literature which now begins 
to be edited. Those who enjoy the brandishing of meta- 
physical swords will perhaps enjoy the endless negations of 
these books; but their essence is contained in a famous 
leaflet, the Prajna-paramita-hridaya-Sitra, or ‘‘Essence 
of Transcendental Wisdom,” which has had an immense 
influence and is still repeated daily by multitudes in the 
Far East. A word as to its title: Praja is the Sanskrit 
form of the Pali pafiia, which early Buddhists used to 
denote intuitive transcendental knowledge as contrasted 
with the plodding of the discursive intellect. It is a dis- 
tinction familiar to Mystics, and therefore of the essence of 
Buddhism. Paramita means perfection, and the title of 


NALANDA a 


these books is a claim that they reveal Bodhi, or final 
enlightenment. This shortest of them, containing their 
essence or heart, is a later summary, which runs as follows: 
Adoration to the All-wise! Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed 
One was dwelling at the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha, attended by 
a company of monks and bodhisattvas. Seated thus He became 
absorbed in a meditation known as Deep Enlightenment. Then, too, 
the great Bodhisattva Aryavalokitesvara was practicing the deep 
prajfid-paramita; and he perceived that the five constituents of being 
are empty, and so was saved from misery and suffering. “O Sariputra,” 
he cried, “material form is emptiness and emptiness is material form.” 
So is it with the other skandhas; all are empty, sensation, consciousness, 
the samkhara allareempty. They are not born nor are they destroyed; 
they are not tainted nor untainted; they neither increase nor decrease 
. there is therefore neither ignorance nor wisdom, no birth, 

nor age nor death, no suffering, no path of escape from suffering, no 
attainment, nor anything to be attained. The bodhisattva who relies 
on this prajfia-paramita frees his mind of obstruction; and because 
he has no obstruction he is freed from fear, and goes beyond perverted 
and unreal thoughts to final Nirvana. All Buddhas, past, present, 
and future, reach perfect wisdom depending upon this prajfia-paramita. 


This famous booklet is used by all Mahayanists, though 
perhaps not one in a million understands its meaning. 
This is, however, not very obscure; the essence of the 
matter being that there is an ultimate Reality compared 
with which all things are empty. But many Buddhists 
prefer to use it as a magic charm or formula which is 
believed to have immense potency. About this Prajid- 
paramita literature the Madhyamaka school of Nalanda 
centers. 

Chief among the new group of Buddhist philosophers 
is Nagarjuna, its editor and chief exponent. A Brahmin 
by birth, he was converted after a dissipated youth to 
the Hinayana and later to the less austere Mahayana, now 
growing rapidly in power. A native of South India, he 


78 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


seems to have found his way to the Himalayas, and to 
have met there with the cult of Amitabha, for the larger 
Sukhavati-V yiitha was taken to China about this time, and 
he quotes it in his writings. Far less probable is the 
legend of his meeting in the south with an aged teacher 
dwelling in an iron tower, who revealed to him the 
supremacy of Vairochana, and gave him the mystic rite 
of abhisekha, or baptismal ordination. The story sug- 
gests, however, that he knew the vatamsaka Sitra, and 
indicates the zeal of heretical schools to claim the authority 
of the august name of Nagarjuna, who came to be vener- 
ated as a second Buddha “without marks,” and for whom 
it is claimed that he is Ananda, reincarnated in fulfilment 
of a prophecy of Sakyamuni himself. 

Nagarjuna’s great achievement is an attempt by his 
Madhyamaka, or Middle Path, to reconcile the doctrines 
of realism and nihilism—‘being” and “not being.”’ 
“The phenomenal world,” he teaches, “zs unreal; to 
realize this is to enter the first gateway to Mahayana,’ 
yet living in it we can reach Reality. This, itself, is 
Sunyata or the Void, because it is ineffable and transcends 
all relativity, and the phenomenal world is sufiya because 
in it relativity holds sway. The Madhyamaka Sastra 
begins with the statement of eight negatives, the famous 
“Eight Noes’’: 

“No production nor destruction; no annihilation nor 
persistence; no unity nor plurality; no coming in or 
going out.” Between these extremes his Middle Path 
steers its course, just as earlier Buddhism aimed at 
avoiding alike the extremes that all is and that all is not. 
Sakyamuni had refused to encourage either the naive 
realists or the too skeptical nihilists; and even in the 


t Mahdaprajna-paramita-sastra, B.N., 1169. 


NALANDA 79 


vital matter of the “soul” he steered a middle course; 
for, on the one hand, were animistic theories, and, on the 
other, the annihilationists. Nirvana itself is ineffable, 
beyond the crudities of our every-day speech. 

Early Buddhism, in fact, contains the germs of most 
of the chief tenets of the Madhyamaka; and even its 
distinction between relative and absolute truth is fore- 
shadowed in the Pali books, where philosophical truth 
(paramatthasacca) is distinguished from popular or every- 
day truth (sammiti sacca)." 

This distinction is developed by Nagarjuna and made 
the basis of his school, which has the practical aim of 
taking its followers to Absolute Truth; Paramartha 
Satya, Bodhi or Sunyata. To do this the school teaches 
that all things are causally related and have only relative 
existence. The very notions of “‘being” or “‘not being” 


are relative: 
Thy light shines bright, 
And murky night 
Is straightway fled! 
Yet night’s not dead 
Though light is shed, 
And drives it far. 
This lamp of thine 
Doth dimly shine, 
Save in the night; 
So dark and light 
Unreal quite, 
And empty are.? 


In popular jingles of this kind did the wise schoolmen 
embody their philosophy; and the purpose was the very 
practical one of calling men from the garish light of day 
to the serene moonlight of Absolute Truth, to Nirvana. 


1 Cf, Sutta i. 263, and C.A.F. Rhys Davids, “Reality,” E.R.Z., Vol. X. 
2 Kasyapa Parivarta (B.N., XXIII, 57-58); cf. Suzuki, Outlines, p. 391. 


80 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


This is well expressed by the Japanese poet, Akazome 


Emon: 
If I that sing am nothing, nothing they 
That are about me—men and things—then pray, 
How shall I fail in mind to press 
To that One Goal of Nothingness ? 


For Nagarjuna, as for Heracleitus and many another, the 
conclusion is that since sense-knowledge is relative we must 
find absolute truth within: and this truth is Bodhi. The 
phenomenal world is denied, that Nirvana may be realized. 

The world, Sakyamuni taught, is transient, anicca: 
it is unreal, unsatisfying, and empty of abiding worth. 
“Look on it as a mirage,” says the Dhammapada; and the 
same book opens with an aphorism which has been taken 
to indicate that the Founder favored subjective idealism: 

All that we are by mind is wrought 
Fathered and fashioned by our thought. 

It is unlikely ‘that Sakyamuni concerned himself with 
this question; in fact, it is clear that he was a common- 
sense realist so far as the phenomenal world is concerned; 
but the Madhyamaka even in its more conservative phases 
is idealist, and in its more extreme form goes over to sheer 
nihilism. Which position Nagarjuna himself took is un- 
certain: some commentators maintain that he admitted 
the reality of the phenomenal world, but taught that it was 
unreal from the absolute point of view; in other words, 
sammiti satya is relative truth, not sheer untruth. This 
would seem to be the teaching of words attributed to 
Nagarjuna: 

All things that are from causes spring, 
This is the Middle Path we sing: 


All all unreal save the Void, 
For all save That with mind’s alloyed. 


So runs a Karika or couplet of the Madhyamaka karikas. 


NALANDA 81 


The Prajia-paramita has similar passages which seem 
even truer to the teachings of early Buddhism: 
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world 
A star at dawn, a bubble on a stream, 


A flash of lightning on a summer cloud, 
A flickering lamp, a bubble and a dream. 


All these things are real enough, however transient; 
but according to Chandrakirti and others, Nagarjuna 
went much beyond this, and taught that the phenomenal 
world has no existence whatever; that it is unreal, as a 
flower in air, a hare with horns, or the child of a virgin 
carved in stone! 

An artist once a picture painted 
Of such a monster that he fainted: 


Thus endlessly men transmigrate, 
By false ideas infatuate. 


The mind, according to this view, not only colors and 
distorts all we see; it creates it. The phenomenal world 
is “like hairs that a monk with diseased eyes thinks he 
sees in his almsbowl.’* They are not there; the way to 
know them is not to know them. Nay, more; there is 
no monk, no almsbowl—nothing except the Absolute 
Void. Silence is the best and only way to attain it. 

This nihilistic teaching had its effect, of course, in 
ethical matters, the very citadel of Buddhism; and it has 
done harm to the Buddhist cause, first, by its insistence 
on the relativity of every-day truth, and second, by under- 
mining that altruism which is the essence of the 
Mahayana. But the conscience of the earnest Buddhist 
finds a way out of the dilemma. If my neighbor does not 
exist, to help him is impossible. Yet to.do so is none the 
less the mark of a true Buddhist. 

1 Poussin, “Madhyamaka,” E.R E., Vol. VIII. 


82 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


“Let the Bodhisattva, as he offers his gift, realize that 
it has no existence; limitless shall be his merit.’’* Let 
him cherish his little blind sister Karuna or Pity, let him 
realize that she zs blind and his gift will be “‘perfumed.” 
Moral conduct is “laukika,” mundane, when the agent 
believes in the reality of agent, act, and object; it is 
“lokottara,” other-worldly, fragrant with transcendent 
truth, when he believes in the reality of none! Such 
other-worldliness seems pale and unreal. Its “perfume” 
is a little sickly! If neither the monk nor his almsbowl, 
neither the almsgiver nor the alms, are real—so might the 
worldling retort—why bring these unrealities together 
in a fresh entangling relationship? No doubt, however, 
when it came to daily bread, the doctrine of absolute truth 
gave place to that of relative or practical truth; man 
cannot live on pure idealism alone; and even in monastic 
circles we find the doctrine severely criticized, especially 
among the practical Chinese; the wise Tsung Mi, for 
example, asked, as we shall see below: “If mind as well 
as the objective world be unreal, who is it knows that they 
are so?” And men of the world may well have asked: 
“Tf all life be a delusion, why this emphasis on the high 
calling of the monk?’ “It is true,” Nagarjuna would 
no doubt reply, “that all is a dream. Yet the dream of 
the monk is more seemly and less unreal than that of the 
worldling and ends at last in Reality”; and the laity 
must needs be content to leave the monk-philosophers to 
dream, while with dream-coins and fantasmagorial food 
they kept alive these dreamers of dreams only less empty 
than their own. 

That this doctrine of the Madhyamaka held sway in 
Nalanda for several centuries is clear; we learn from 


1 Vajracchedika Sitra. 


NALANDA 83 


Hiuen-Tsiang, through whom it spread to China and 
Japan, that it was known as the “Three Period Doctrine,” 
and that he learned it from the great logician, Silabadhra, 
who maintained that the Buddha had himself taught in 
three successive periods: (1) that the atman is unreal, 
but the phenomenal world of dharmas real—this is the 
Hinayana view; (2) that all phenomena are unreal, but 
the mind is real—this is the subjective idealism of the 
Yogacara and other Mahayana schools; (3) that neither 
is real—this is the nihilism of some followers of the 
Madhyamaka school, which finds its most characteristic 
utterance in the paradox, ‘“‘Delusion is wisdom; the flux 
of Samsara is Nirvana.” These are but different names 
for the same thing: two aspects of one Absolute. The 
world of Samsara is the realization of the Ideal, a fleeting 
expression of the Eternal. 

This classification is, of course, pure propaganda. The 
Yogacara is a later development than the Madhyamaka, 
and, though both are developments of germs in the teach- 
ing of Sakyamuni, neither was ever formulated by him. 

Significant as was the philosophy of the school, it 
made an even more important contribution to Bud- 
dhology. Applying its doctrine of relative and absolute 
truth in this sphere, it worked out the Duakaya doctrine 
of the 4vatamsaka, and put the Amitabha cult on a sounder 
theological basis. ‘‘The Buddha,” says Nagarjuna, “has 
two bodies, one is the body of miraculous transformation, 
and fills the ten regions of space, limitless and immeasur- 
able, serene, majestic, radiant, infinitely eloquent. The 
other is his human body, subject to mortal limitations.’”* 

In other words, the Dharmakdaya, absolute or real 
existence, empties itself at times, and a Jatakaya, Rup- 


* Commentary on the Prajida-paramita. 


84 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


akaya, or Nirmanakaya, which is relatively real, or unreal, 
makes its appearance in the phenomenal world. This 1s 
a concession to the naive realism of ordinary folk. But 
philosophers know better. 

The Dharmakaya is the Absolute Truth or Norm 
behind all its fleeting manifestations, to which there 1s no ~ 
limit. Amitabha, Vairochana, Sakyamuni, are notable 
examples of such manifestations, and each in turn, or 
all side by side, may be the central object of worship. 
This doctrine opened the door wide to all the pantheons 
of the new lands into which Buddhism was rapidly 
penetrating. A polytheistic cult with a basis of panthe- 
istic idealism, it was now ready to adopt and adapt 
any deity—a sun-god, or a god of war, or some less repu- 
table figure—who had a hold upon the allegiance of its 
converts. Yet this polytheism had in it, like that of the 
Rig Veda, the germ of a true monotheism; the claims of 
individual gods fora supreme place in the Pantheon now 
begin to be urged upon the faithful. And as in the Rig 
Veda Varuna almost achieves the supremacy, so in the 
Buddhist Pantheon Amitabha now makes a bold bid for 
the allegiance of the faithful. Gods many there might 
be—indeed, Gotama himself seems to have had a bowing 
acquaintance with them—but was there not one lord whom 
all should worship, accessible, and indeed seeking to bring 
multitudes to his Paradise ? 

Here then were laid the foundations of a pietistic as 
well as of a philosophic Mahayana: the latter uni- 
versalizing the Buddha-nature and finding in the 
Dharmakaya, which is his essence, the true meaning 
of the universe; the former making of the historic 
Sakyamuni and of the mythical Amitabha adaptations of 
the Eternal. 


NALANDA 85 


The cult of Amitabha is studied best in the 4mitayur- 
dhyana Sitra,, which contains instructions as to the 
practice of meditation leading to visions, more or less 
hypnotic, of the Pure Land of the Western Paradise, and 
a more developed theology than the Sukhdvati Vyitha. 
The book opens, as is usual in Mahayana sutras, with a 
Prelude, in which we see the Buddha on the Vulture 
Peak accompanied by a host of Bodhisattvas with Mafi- 
jusri at their head. But unlike the Buddha of the 
“Lotus” it is no glorified being with whom we have to 
deal but the historic Teacher. He appears to the Queen 
Mother Vaidehi in despair at the conduct of her unnat- 
ural son Ajatasattu, who has imprisoned his father, and 
threatened her with his impious sword. Having in one 
pregnant sentence raised the problem of suffering, she 
does not stay for an answer but pours out her plea: “My 
one prayer,” she cries, “is this: Tell me, I pray thee, of 
worlds where there is no sorrow, where the wicked cease 
to trouble and the weary are at rest: where I may be 
reborn in peace.” The response is immediate and effec- 
tive: from his brow there flashes forth a light which reveals 
to the Queen the ten quarters of the pure and admirable 
Buddha-lands. She chooses that of Amitabha, the Pure 
Land of Bliss.2. Then, in response to her plea, he shows 
her how to cultivate “a threefold goodness,” and to be 
reborn in this land “which is not very far off.”” This good- 
ness consists in three groups of pure actions, including, 
besides ordinary Buddhist morality and beliefs, the 
observance of due ceremonial and the study and recitation 
of the Mahayana sutras. Works as well as faith are 
demanded of the candidate for that Pure Land: yet it is 


1 B.N., 198; §.B.E., Vol. XLIX, Part II. 


2Here we actually see what Max Miller calls Kathenotheism at work—one of 
many gods is chosen for worship. 


86 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


by the power of the Buddha, not by one’s own effort, that 
one may see it. One must become as a child, and he will 
reveal it. The Queen is thus brought to a state of calm 
resignation; and telling her frankly that she is a very 
ordinary and rather stupid person, the Blessed One pro- 
ceeds to give her lessons in meditation which form the 
second main section of the book. 

‘All save the blind can see the setting sun. Do thou 
then with due ceremony and concentrated effort gaze into 
the western sky, especially at the time when the sun hangs 
in it like a suspended drum.’* Then follow instructions 
as to meditation upon water, ice, and Japis lazuli until 
there shall arise the vision of the golden banner on an 
azure background, with strains of music and voices cry- 
ing: “All is suffering, all unreal, all impermanent.” 
Gradually a dim picture of Sukhavati will be formed, 
and will free multitudes from sin and suffering. There 
follow ten other meditations upon the features of that 
delectable land, upon the bodily marks of its heavenly 
King and of his spiritual Sons, Avalokitesvara and 
Mahasthamaprapta. The third section of the book 
defines the threefold thought as true, deeply believing 
and full of longing for rebirth in this Paradise, and teaches 
that there are three classes who will attain it—the com- 
passionate who follow the precepts, the faithful who recite 
the sutras (especially the Vaipulya Sutras), and those who 
practice the sixfold remembrance. If for one or for seven 
days any man practice one of these, he will be reborn in 
that Pure Land, and to him will appear the Buddhas and 
Bodhisattvas of the West, with monks, inquirers, and 


* Nagarjuna himself is said to have died with his face turned to the Western Para- 
dise. The first teacher of this cult of Amitabha seems to have been his teacher Saraha. 
Could he have been a Jew or an early Christian missionary? The name does not 
sound Indian. 


NALANDA $47 


gods innumerable, and will give him the hand of welcome 
and a diamond throne. And, as is fitting in a heaven 
designed in India, the retinue allowed will be proportion- 
ate to the merit acquired. 

The book concludes with a vision granted to the Queen 
in which all this splendid heavenly kingdom is shown 
to her. “Behold,” she cries, ‘the half was not told me,” 
and the officious and practical Ananda winds up a book, 
which would have made his Master gasp, by asking what 
it is to be called. So amid scenes of ecstatic joy in heaven 
and upon earth the curtain falls. 

One very significant passage deserves special comment: 

If there be any sinner, even of the five deadly sins . . . . and he 
be about to die and repeat the words, “Praise to Buddha Amitayus,” 
ten times without interruption and with continued thought fixed upon 


the Buddha .. . . he will by the merit of this deed expiate at each 
repetition the sins whose punishment is rebirth for eight millions of ages. 


Akin to this teaching is that of the larger and smaller 
Sukhavati Vyiha. But it is noteworthy that though 
these three books are all equally authoritative, they differ 
in this point: the two former insisting that while this 
faith in Amitabha is indeed most potent, yet some merit 
on the part of the faithful is needed, and the smaller 
Sukhavati Vyitha denying that rebirth in the western 
heaven can be achieved by merit. Again the larger of 
these two Sukhdvati Sutras expressly denies what the 
Amitayur-dhyana Sitra teaches, that those who have 
sinned any of the five deadly sins may be reborn in the 
Western Paradise. In these three books of the Paradise 
Mahayana, which may well have expressed and molded 
the devotional life of Nalanda, we may then trace the 


1 §.B.E., XLIX, 197-98; Amitayur-dhyana Sitra. 
2B.N., 23 (5), 27, 199, 200. 


88 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


gradual development of the doctrine of faith at the expense 
of the old doctrine of merit. Nalanda was the home of 
theologians as well as philosophers. As we saw above, 
the Chinese pilgrim found there a great statue of Avalo- 
kitesvara, and an artist who was busy painting a picture 
of Metteyya Buddha. 

From these indications we may reconstruct something 
of the religious life of the great university, and it will help 
us to remember that Buddhism is a religion and not 
merely a philosophy, and to note the inevitable stages 
by which it was popularized and universalized in prepara- 
tion for its great achievements as a missionary religion. 
At Nalanda it was equipped with a philosophy, a principle 
of pedagogy, and practical methods of devotion, all of 
which were needed if it were to appeal to the peoples of 
trans-Himalaya, and yet to keep its self-respect. 

What are the links between these theistic and poly- 
theistic schools and the ethical reform instituted by 
Sakyamuni? Some we have already discussed. Another 
is to be found in the elaboration of the Bodhisattva ideal. 
Either at Nalanda or at similar centers of literary activity 
the parabolic method of Sakyamuni was developed; some 
Indian Aesop used the current folklore of India and wove 
into it the Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattva and the 
theory of reincarnation, providing a veritable storehouse 
for the teacher of simple folk. We know from the monu- 
ments of Asoka that part of this work was done by the 
second century B.c., and by the first century A.D. we find 
the legend of Sumedha worked out. In the dim distant 
past he took a vow in the presence of the reigning Buddha, 
Dipankara, that he would not enter Nirvana until all 
creatures were saved; his vow was accepted and it was he 
who finally became the historical Sakyamuni. In such 


NALANDA 89 


ways was developed the elaborate succession of Bodhi- 
sattvas, who, by their sacrificial life and often by their 
death, have made a bank of merit upon which the faith- 
ful may draw; and by the fifth century a.p. the great 
Ceylon commentator, Buddhaghosa, is able to exclaim: 
“More than the ocean has he given of his blood, more.than 
the stars of his eyes!” 

Fa-Hian records that when he visited Ceylon in the 
early fifth century it was the custom at the annual 
procession of the Tooth Relic for a royal herald, mounted 
upon a richly caparisoned elephant, to proclaim the sacri- 
ficial acts of the Blessed One: during untold ages he 
spared not himself, gave away wife and child, plucked out 
his eyes, and cut off his head as an alms, until he won to 
Buddahood, turned the wicked from sin, and gave the 
weary rest. After this recital the king would exhibit 
the effigies of the five hundred bodily forms which had 
lodged this sacrificial spirit, and they were greatly honored 
by the crowds which then as now gathered for the festival 
of the Tooth of Gotama. This Bodhisattva ideal, as 
it was fully developed in the Mahayana, is nobly set 
forth in the Sukhavati V-yiiha, and may be compared with 
the Arhat ideal set forth, for example, in the Dhammapada. 
While there is much that is similar in the two types, they 
differ in very noticeable ways,? and the transition between 
them is to be found, as we have seen, in the Milinda 
Paiha and in these Fataka tales, which are at once 
fables and popular theology, an attempt to account for 


*In his famous Visuddhi Magga composed at Anuradhapura. To Buddhaghosa 
also is attributed the familiar prayer which embodies the longings of millions in Bud- 
dhist lands: “May I meet Metteyya when he comes to lead multitudes to the haven of 
salvation. May I see the Lord of Mercy and be wise in the three scriptures.” 


? The ideal of the Bodhisattva is higher and more arduous than that of the Arhat; 
he pledges himself by a solemn vow (pranidhana) to put out every effort and dedicates 
to others his merit (parinamana). 


go EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


the historic Sakyamuni. But Amitabha, incorporated 
into Buddhism about this time, had also to be accounted 
for. And the new Buddhism had to depict a new and 
more arresting series, and to pile up even more extrava- 
gant claims if it was to win its way. Or perhaps the shoe 
was on the other foot! It may be that the Theravada 
schools, being put upon their mettle by the winsome figures 
of the Mahayana, developed such tales as those of Ves- 
santara and Sumedha, and added them to the growing list 
of the Fatakas. 

The Bodhisattva of the Mahayana is certainly an 
arresting figure: charming, gentle, and compassionate, 
full of tender and affectionate thought, unbiased, serene; 
he is zealous, and ever girded for the duties of his high 
calling; and has no thought that is not pure and wise. 
He rouses others to good deeds, and stirs them up by his 
activities to realize that the phenomenal world is “empty.” 
Himself walking in the highest perfections (paramitas) 
of knowledge, meditation, strength, patience, and virtue, 
he rouses others to.a noble emulation, so that in countless 
multitudes they are established in enlightenment, and 
provide for innumerable Buddhas the gifts in which they 
delight." 

Such is the description of the Bhikshu Dharmakara, 
whose perfect prayer or vow to save all beings brought him 
to the Western Paradise as Amitabha, Light infinite in 
brilliance and power, surpassing that of Sun and Moon, 
whose Pure Land is prosperous and good to live in, filled 
with physical delights, like every apocalyptic heaven, 
but also radiant with spiritual joy and free from sin as 
well as from pain. In it there mingles with the musical 
cries of peacocks, parrots, and geese the sweeter music 

™Cf. S.B.E., Vol. XLIX, Part II, pp. 25-26. 


NALANDA gl 


of Buddhist philosophy, and voices are heard, beloved, 
sweet, and pleasant alike to ear and heart, like the sound 
of many waters murmuring “unreal, transient.”" Very 
interesting too are the ethical notes of this heavenly 
music; Karuna, pity, Kshanti, patience, Maitri, love, are 
prominent among them. The ethical system of the 
Mahayana, as embodied in these popular tales of Dharma- 
kara and his vow, is clearly almost the same as that of 
the Hinayana, as embodied in the Fataka tale of Sumedha, 
who promises to practice the virtues of charity (dana), 
morality (sila), resignation (nekkhamma), wisdom 
(pafiia), exertion (viriya), forbearance (khanti), truth- 
fulness (sacca), persistency (aditthana), love (metta), and 
equanimity (upekkha), and who by this noble path 
arrives at Buddahood, and is born as Sakyamuni. We 
may imagine the two tales being worked out side by side 
in the viharas of Nalanda. The great difference between 
the two schools is this: that whereas only lofty souls like 
Sumedha could tread the lonely path of these perfections, 
and so long as they followed the way of virtue, the multi- 
tudes could not attain, all could become Buddhas by 
following the Mahayana; and a minor but yet noteworthy 
difference is that in the latter system a more prominent 
place is given to altruistic virtues. This is, however, a 
matter of emphasis rather unfairly pressed by Mahayan- 
ist apologists. 

But as Dr. Anesaki has pointed out, momentous con- 
sequences followed from this change of emphasis, and 
sympathetic benevolence developed into spiritual com- 
munion as the ideal of the new school, until in Japan and 
China perhaps the most characteristic note of Buddhism 
is the sense of the unity of all things and their mutual 


97 


t Ibid., passim, especially pp. 39-40. 


g2 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


sympathy. From such a sense springs the practice, now 
universal in Buddhist lands, known as parinamana, or 
parivarta, the dedication of one’s spiritual and material 
gifts to the salvation of others, the “turning over’’ to 
them of merit. The little mother offering a strand of her 
hair at the Burmese pagoda, the Sinhalese monk reciting 
Pirit, the priests of China and Japan saying masses for 
the dead—all are imbued with this belief. 

So too for all the ultimate Goal is the same, Nirvana, 
Bodhi, or enlightenment, though their immediate purpose 
be the securing of material benefits in this life or in the 
underworld for themselves, for their clients, and for the 
dead; and though almost all are more eager for a para- 
dise than for Nirvana. 

From the increasing emphasis upon the Bodhisattva 
ideal sprang this doctrine, and the germs of both are in 
the Pali books. .For the example of Sakyamuni himself 
is nearer to the Bodhisattva than to the Arhat ideal, and 
he himself seems to have found in such devoted sacrifice 
as that of the saintly Punna as acceptable a type as the 
rigid self-culture of the recluse; and even in the earliest 
accounts the two ideals are seen side by side, and the 
practice of parinamana is adumbrated. But the Maha- 
yana, by its courageous doctrine of the Buddhahood of 
all, cut at the roots of the dual morality of Hinayana 
monasticism, which has undoubtedly put the celibate 
monk on a much higher plane than the layman. 

Perhaps the first indication of an attempt to break 
away is in the Gandhara sculptures of Metteyya as a 
prince in lay costume, and it is, as we have seen, to 
Gandhara that we may attribute the “Lotus” teachings 
which so clearly and boldly assert this truth of the One 

™ Cf. “Buddhist Morality,” Z.R.EZ., and other papers by Dr. Anesaki. 


NALANDA 93 


Way for layman and for all sentient beings as well as for 
monks. But at Nalanda and elsewhere the doctrine was 
worked out until Buddhism was fitted to capture the 
allegiance of China, Korea, and Japan. 

The Amitayur-dhyana Sitra 1s more than a popular 
treatise on Paradise. Belonging, on the one hand, to the 
Paradise Mahayana, it is also a link with the Yogacara 
school which we have now to study, for it is a textbook for 
the Mystic, instructing him how he may experience the 
truth of his religion, and escape here and now the sorrows 
of the world. 

This is the aim of all Buddhists, but some schools lay 
special stress upon it. The Yogacara, as its name implies, 
is one of these; notable for its philosophical distinction, 
it has won its way because of its practical aim, which is 
nothing else than the achievement of the Mystic Union, 
even if it has often contented itself with magic. The 
metaphysical contributions of this school are great. 
Under its leaders, Asanga and Vasubandhu, Brahmin 
converts of Northwest India, it developed at about the 
beginning of the fourth century of the Christian Era 
three notable doctrines. 

1. It elaborated the doctrine of twofold knowledge as 
follows: There are, it said, three lakshana, aspects or 
stages of Truth; first comes the ordinary naive realism 
(parakalpita lakshana); but things are not what they 
seem to our deluded sight, and a second stage is reached 
when we realize the relativity of all things, and come to 
know that there is no abiding Reality in them; this 
stage is paratantra lakshana, and from it we must pass 
on to full and perfect knowledge, parinishpanna lakshana, 
and realize that the world in which we live and our own 
minds spring from a Supreme Mind. Having pierced the 


94 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


clouds of illusion and scaled the heights of relative knowl- 
edge, the Mystic soars at last into the pure ether of Bodhi, 
perfect enlightenment, and has transcended the dualisms 
of subject and object, Samsara and Nirvana. 

2. Of this ultimate reality the new school had its own 
interpretation. It is more positively conceived than by 
the Madhyamaka as a Supreme Mind. The school is, in 
fact, idealist, and its conception of the Alayavijfiana, 
the nidus, or foundation of all things, and the ground 
and basis of thought, is a remarkable one. It is called 
Citta, mind, and is distinguished from Manas, human intel- 
ligence and will, which arises when Karma acts on the Alaya 
and calls it into being, or rather to the delusion of being. 

It is this Manas which sees and apprehends the objec- 
tive world, and the school has its own elaborate and not 
very convincing psychology. As in early Buddhism it is 
“ignorance” which causes the production of a new self 
or delusion of self; and even the Alaya is itself only rela- 
tively real. The absolute Reality is Tathata, or “such- 
ness,’ which seems hardly distinguishable from the Void; 
this true nature of all things is free from all characteristics. 
But the name, Tathagata-garbha, or “Buddha-womb,” 
is given to it as a concession to those who cannot rest 
satisfied with so barren an absolute. What really matters 
is to recognize that the self and the world are unreal; 
that thought—blank and without characteristics—is the 
fundamental reality; and to have no attachment to this 
transcendent goal. To this extent all of us may be good 
Buddhists! But it is expressly stated that only “higher 
men” can apprehend this teaching, and it may well be 
that it is here misrepresented. 

The whole doctrine of the school is condensed in 
Asanga’s Mahdyanasamparigraha-Sastra, which begins 


NALANDA 95 


with a statement of ten points in which the Mahayana 
is superior to the Hinayana, and goes on to expound the 
Alaya as “that which sustains and upholds, deep and 
subtle, wherein the seeds of being flow eternally.” It is, 
in other words, the substratum of all things, and holds 
together the elements of which they are composed. It is 
also called Adana, or receptacle—a storehouse in which 
the seeds of Karma are preserved until the time comes for 
them to sprout and bear fruit. Each conscious being 
leaves behind him an energy, which remains latent in this 
receptacle and finally acts and reacts with it, bringing 
about a new regrouping of Skandhas. The Alaya remains 
tranquil until it is “perfumed” or contaminated by 
Manas; till then, though it is in ceaseless motion, it is 
unconscious. 

3. The Yogacara proceeded to systematize the rather 
undeveloped Buddhology of earlier schools. Some con- 
cept was needed to link together the two “Bodies” of 
the Madhyamaka. How was the historic Founder, for 
example, to be linked with the Dharmakadya? The 
Yogacara school added the new concept of the glorified 
body, or Sambhogakaya, who becomes henceforth the 
object of interest in the Mahayana. This glorious being 
was the reality incarnate in the accommodated body, or 
Nirmanakaya. In this way the historic is linked to the 
eternal, and Indian distrust of history finds a way to 
substitute eternity for time. 

Such are the three contributions to theological and 
philosophical thought made by the Yogacara school. 
Even more important is its practice, for it met the needs 
of hungry human hearts for a religion of experience. It 
is not to be supposed that the arid abstractions of the 
schoolmen satisfied ordinary humanity, and of the charm- 


96 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ing pictures of other-worldly joys drawn by the theo- 
logians many must have asked: “Do they correspond to 
objective fact?’ To such the new school offered the 
practice of Yoga, long familiar to India and clearly influen- 
cing Buddhism from its earliest times, but now frankly 
accepted as the heart and essence of the whole matter. 
The Supreme Reality is Bodhi, compared with which the 
Alayavijfiana itself has only relative reality; and to attain 
to Bodhi all the stages of the Bodhisattva must be 
practiced. 

The Lankdvatara Siitra’ is a standard work of this 
school and teaches that the Bodhisattva will reach his 
goal if he realizes that all things are mental creations: 
that they exist only as a mirage, or a nightmare, and are 
produced by the mental impulse of a former time which 
operates upon the Alayavijfiana to produce a new illusion 
of being. This will cease when he goes on to grasp the 
true nature of ultimate reality; and to help in this quest 
a series of meditations is laid down for him; beginning 
with the jhanas of early Buddhism he is to go on and 
enter farther and farther into the mysteries of unreality. 

Thus we see the Mahayana conception of the Bodhi- 
sattva—often so admirable in its altruism—degenerating 
into what seems as futile and selfish a pursuit as that of 
any Arhat; and Buddhist scholasticism, whether at 
Nalanda or in the Viharas of Ceylon, is at work in the 
fourth and fifth centuries of our era to the undoing of the 
Buddha’s way of virtue. It is difficult to believe that so 
negative a mysticism is worth while: to toil upward, step 
by step, and at last to arrive faint and weary at one last 
Negation—such seems the idealism of the Vijfanavada 
no less than the franker negativism of the Madhyamaka. 


BN. pp. 175-77: 


NALANDA 97 


The seventeen stages of this long ascent Asanga set 
out in the Yogdcarabhiimi Sdstra, and in a volume of 
verse with a prose commentary, the Mahdydnasitra- 
lamkara, the philosophy of the school may be studied.? 
The former work is ascribed to the Bodhisattva Maitreya, 
and it is noteworthy that he has largely superseded the 
historic Gotama in this school; his cult for several centu- 
ries becomes very prominent, and its traces are widespread 
today from the sculptures of Gandhara to those of Korea. 
On Koyasan the saints of the Mantra or Tantric Bud- 
dhism, a development of Yogacara, await his coming, and 
his fat and genial smile greets the visitor at the entrance 
to every Chinese shrine. 

Clearly influenced by Asanga and Vijfianavada philos- 
ophy is another famous book, the Mahayana Sraddhot- 
padasastra, or “Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana.”? 
Attributed by tradition to the poet-minstrel, Asvaghosa, 
it is clearly of much later date; its style has nothing in 
common with the Buddha Carita, and that poem has no 
hint of its ruling ideas. The “Awakening” centers about 
the doctrine of Tathata—absolute reality beyond all com- 
prehension and expression, yet immanent in all. It claims 
that the Mahaydana is great in essence, for the essence of 
it is the mind and store of all; great in attribute, for it em- 
braces endless potentialities of Buddhahood; great in 
work, for these potentialities develop when duly disciplined. 


t [bid., pp.1170, 1085, 1190; the latter translated into French by S. Lévi. Paris, 
1907. 

2 [bid., pp. 1249, 1250. 

3Nor has his other epic, the Saundarananda Kavya. Moreover, I-Tsing, who 
writes about him, makes no mention of the “Awakening,” and other books have been 
wrongly attributed to him. For able discussion of Asvaghosa see M. Anesaki in £.R.E., 
Vol. I; Sylvain Lévi in Fournal Asiatique (July and August, 1908). Dr. Anesaki calls 
him “the Buddhist Origen.” His colleague, Dr. I. Takakusu, supported by Drs. 
Sylvain Lévi and Winternitz, is opposed to the tradition of Asvaghosa’s authorship of 
the “Awakening.” D. T. Suzuki now believes that it is a Chinese work (Eastern 
Buddhist, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 103-4). 


98 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


It is a concise and well-compacted treatise, idealist like 
the Yogacara and practical like it in its purpose, which 
is to awaken faith in the Mahayana, and to set forth the 
One Reality as an absolute mind of which individual minds 
are parts—as the waves on an ocean. 

This Absolute is more satisfying than that alike of the 
Yogacara and of the Madhyamaka, which the ‘‘ Awaken- 
ing” may well intend to reconcile, for it is set forth as a 
Tathagata-garbha, or “Womb of the Buddhas” from 
which all things proceed. 

The term, Alayavijfiana, is applied to it, but it is 
conceived as less relative and more absolute than the 
Alaya of the Yogacara. 

For ordinary folk this concept is set forth as the 
Bodhi-Citta, one universal, perfect mind, loving as well 
as wise, who has compassion on all; let them put faith in 
him. Such faith “is upright, having right thoughts of this 
Eternal; profound, rejoicing to study and practice whatever 
is good; greatly compassionate, anxious to deliver all.” 

For the more philosophical the Bodhi-Citta is described 
as the essence of all things, alone real, and therefore 
indescribable, yet known to men under the conditions of 
their phenomenal life. This, the highest truth (para- 
martha satya), is ineffable, and beyond definition, neither 
“empty” nor “not empty”; it alone is the Real, the 
Eternal, and may be translated either “suchness” with 
Suzuki, or “the True Model” with Timothy Richard, for 
Tathata means “that which is,” the “thing in itself.” 
This under another aspect is the Dharmakaya,’ and 
under another represents the Nibbana of the Pali books, 


*From Dharma, “law, teaching,” but also “nature,” “thing,” to Dharmakaya, 
“the body of law,” but also that which is the essence of nature, the foundation of exist- 
ence—this is an evolution natural to the human mind. Behind phenomena is the 
Absolute, behind the norm the Norm. 


NALANDA 99 


that Supreme Truth of which Sakyamunt is alike discoverer 
and embodiment. For this is still the goal of Buddhism, 
even if in some Mahayana schools it is almost forgotten 
in the joys of Paradise. 

In these two doctrines the ““Awakening”’ is developing 
the teaching of Sakyamuni; first, that this highest Truth 
is ineffable; and second, that the Dhamma is the truth 
underlying all things. The Dharmakaya, it teaches, is 
this Absolute, which reveals itself either in human form, 
such as that of Sakyamuni, when it is called the Nir- 
manakaya or Buddha in Kenosis, or as the Sambhogakaya, 
or Buddha in bliss. 

The Christian theologian will at once see the resem- 
blance between this attempt to account for the historic 
Gotama and to relate him with the Eternal Order, and the 
early Christology of the church; the Nirmanakaya may 
be compared with the historic Jesus, the Sambhogakaya 
with the glorified Christ, while the Dharmakaya resembles 
the eternal God-head.t? For the theologians of both 
religions the problem was to do justice at once to the 
absolute authority of the Teacher and the contingent cir- 
cumstances of his human life. Both solved it by a theory 
of Kenosis, or self-emptying. 

What then is faith? It is belief in this threefold 
nature of the Buddha who saves us by his grace, grasping 
us as the tigress grasps her cub; belief in his Dharma, or 
teaching, and in his Sangha, and with this belief joy in 
them all. This faith, however, seems to be about to 
cling to some Being more personal and less abstract. 

Whether the “Awakening of Faith” in its early form 
definitely taught that this faith should center in Amitabha 


1 So the absolute Brahman is revealed in the transfigured and in the human Krishna 
of the Bhagavadgita. 


100 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


is not clear; there are passages which seem to imply such a 
personification of the Dharmakaya, and in the Chinese 
versions in common use’ the doctrine is explicitly taught 
in at least one passage at the close of the book, but these 
versions belong to the sixth and seventh centuries and the 
passage may bea gloss. It refers to an earlier work called 
“The Sutra,” possibly the Sukhdvati V-yuha, and exhorts 
the faithful to think of Amitabha, and to direct their good 
deeds toward his Western Paradise. They will then be 
reborn in it and will be confirmed in their faith in the 
Buddha. 

Side by side with faith goes enlightenment (for we are 
still dealing, after all, with Buddhism); this consists in 
transcending subjectivity, and in realizing that the 
Absolute is the real, ‘‘that the mortal is with the immortal 
blent.”” So only is ignorance annihilated, and man’s 
essential nature realized. In other words, the Bodhi-Citta, 
or Buddha-mind, latent in all men, awakes when they 
realize their true nature as parts of the Eternal. All are 
capable of Buddhahood, and this note is struck with 
emphasis, for the author realized that men are saved by 
hope as well as by faith, and that if so many early Bud- 
dhists had reached Arhatship all men might become 
Buddhas. 

Such, in essence, is this remarkable book which has 
been a gospel of hope and comfort to countless millions, 
and which helped to lay the foundations for a universal 
Buddhism. It is accepted, in fact, by all schools of the 
Mahayana, of which it is in many ways the crowning 
achievement. 

How did this notable development of doctrine take 
place? Itis not sufficient to urge the claims of the human 


1 One translated in 553 a.D. by Paramartha, one in 695-700 a.p. by Sikshananda. 


NALANDA IOI 


heart, nor even the demands of human reason, though 
here is the nucleus of a true answer; man needs a concep- 
tion of the Divine, he wi// argue back to a First Cause, and 
in it he will always postulate compassion as well as wis- 
dom; he cannot well get along without belief in a Creator 
and Savior. But there is also the historic fact that 
converts, trained in Hindu philosophy, brought back into 
the main stream of Buddhism doctrines which the Bud- 
dhist reformation had, for the moment, submerged. The 
“Awakening of Faith”? may seem unorthodox Buddhism; 
it is “good Krishnaism,” and in it we may see Hindu 
philosophy taking a noble revenge. So there appears 
in Buddhism a formulated pantheistic idealism, and a 
universalistic note which has made it a gospel for the 
many. 

As Mahayanist scholars claim, here was a legitimate 
development; from the very first the historical Gotama 
had tended at once to emphasize faith in himself and, 
paradoxical as it may seem, to remove himself behind 
the Dharma; how natural that this Dharma, which 
stood for universal moral law, should itself first tend to 
take on a cosmic significance, and then be embodied 
in a personal savior. The Dharma emanates from 
the Dharmakaya; the Tathagata is the embodiment of 
Tathata. 

Like the “Lotus,” the “Awakening of Faith” may 
serve as a useful link between the Christian and the 
Buddhist, as let the following incident attest. Dr. 
Timothy Richard, a veteran missionary in China, has 
put it on record that when the latter book first came into 
his hands he sat late into the night reading it, and was 
again and again constrained to exclaim to his companion: 
“Listen to this; it is a Christian book,” only to be told 


102 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


by that champion of orthodoxy: “Go to sleep. You are 
reading your own thoughts into it.” Yet the doctrine 
of an Eternal Being whose nature is love, and whom to 
trust is to be saved, is common to both, and the great 
bulk of the worshipers of the two religions are simple folk 
who do not trouble their heads as to whether this Eternal 
is personal or not. In the “Awakening of Faith” we see 
Buddhism becoming a religion whose idea of God has 
nothing in it which is unworthy, and whose philosophy is 
closely akin to much Christian idealism. Yet, like other 
Mahayana books, it lays Buddhism open to the dangers 
of pantheism, because it does not sufficiently emphasize 
the transcendence of the Tathata, or Absolute. This was 
one reason why Buddhism was later reabsorbed into 
Hinduism, and the great University of Nalanda fell as 
much through internal degeneration and compromise 
with Tantric Hinduism as through the iconoclasm of 
Islam. 

Yet from the second to the ninth century it remained 
a great center of learning, and especially of the two great 
schools of the Madhyamaka and the Vijfianavada, whose 
textbooks went out from its halls to China and Tibet, 
many of them in the possession of the great pilgrim with 
whom we started out on our investigation; it must have 
been a great university which won the enthusiasm of 
Hiuen-Tsiang. 

Other great and notable names on its roll of honor are 
Chandrakirti and Santideva. To the latter we owe an 
admirable, if not very original, compendium of doctrine, 
the Siksha-Sammucaya,* in which the Bodhisattva ideal is 
set forth as one of real beauty, and here we see the positive 
side of the vta negativa discussed above. 


t Rouse and Bendall, Z.T. London: Murray, 1922. 


NALANDA 103 


How shall I seek the goal to gain 
While others live in fear and pain? 
Should I this self of mine preserve 
And fail those other selves to serve ? 


asks its first Karika, or stanza, and it is answered: 


O thou that wouldst that goal attain 
And find for all the end of pain— 
Make firm the root of faith within, 
Set thine own mind the Light to win. 


This is as orthodox as the Dhammapada, and the book 
goes on to show that the Bodhisattva regards others as 
himself—nay, above himself: “It is better that I alone 
should suffer than that others should sink to torment.” 

More original and full of fine fervor is the Bodhicarya- 
vatara of the same author, written “‘for his own satisfac- 
tion,” perhaps as a result of his patient and devout edi- 
torial work on the “Compendium.” As he muses the 
fire kindles, and he begins to glorify the Bodhi-Citta, 
and to implore Bodhisattvas to become servants of all. 
“May I be medicine to the sick .... their physician 
and nurse ... . aguide to the lost, a ship to the voyager, 
a lamp in darkness, a couch to the weary..... The 
sorrow of the stranger I must destroy as my own. .... 
I must serve others because they are beings like myself.” 
Yes, this beautiful dream ends in the stark unreality 
of nihilism. “Who can be honored, who reproached? 
Where are joy and sorrow, the loved and the hated, 
avarice and liberality? Search as ye will ye may not 
find.” 

“Tt seems,” says G. K. Nariman, in his excellent 
account of Sanskrit Buddhism’ (which has reached me 


1 Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism. Bombay, 1923. 


104 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


as this goes to press), “‘to be the curse of Indian mentality 
that whenever it soars too high it lands in absurdity.” 
Alas! The schoolmen of Nalanda fell into worse 
depths, and it is one of the tragedies of history that this 
great university, alike in her too great tolerance and in 
her oversubtlety, deserted the Middle Path of Sakyamuni. 
About the sixth century began the penetration of his 
austere house by Sakta Hinduism, a process which we 
shall study in a later chapter; and even in the Tantric 
Buddhism which resulted Nalanda was before long over- 
shadowed by the new University of Vikramasila on the 
Ganges, and at last went down before the furious 
onslaught of Islam, that scourge of degenerate faiths. 


CHAPTER V 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, 
AND SUKHOTHAI 


Fastnesses of the Theravada in Ceylon, Burma, and 
Siam (250 B.C—rzgoo A.D.) 
“As is the sowing so is the harvest .... 


The monks are the harvestfield of merit.” 
—SAKYAMUNI. 


Amid a sea of scrubby jungle that shimmers in a 
perpetual haze of heat rises the rocky knoll of Missaka; 
it is today known as Mihintale, and on its three peaks 
are dagobas and viharas, where a few monks of the 
Theravada keep alive the monastic form into which early 
Ceylon Buddhism was cast by the great Mahinda, while 
his father, Asoka, was making it a religion for the masses 
of the people of India. Here today one may visit the rock- 
hewn study or cell of the royal missionary from which 
there went out the emissaries of the Dhamma. Seven 
miles to the west is the sacred city of Anuradhapura, 
which more, perhaps, than any relic of Buddhism captures 
the imagination of the student, and reveals something of 
the splendid civilization which grew up about the Sangha. 
Its vast dagobas, its ancient trees and pleasant parks, its 
slender stone pillars and great carved lintels remain to 
tell of a noble city, where kings once vied with one another 
in honoring the Sangha, and where monastic Buddhism, 
withdrawn yet watchful, overawed the throne and nerved 
it to fresh devotion. The island chronicles, Dipawamsa 
(fourth century a.p.) and Mahdwamsa (early fifth), are 


TO5 


106 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


in their main impressions borne out by Fa-Hian, who 
spent some time in Lanka. He contrasts its triumphant 
championship of the order and their activity with the 
shameful neglect of the Buddha’s Holy Land, and he 
returned to China inspired by the picture of what a Bud- 
dhist kingdom might be, and thrilled by its gorgeous 
ceremonial and elaborate worship. Even as early as 
the Asokan era there is evidence on the great gateway 
at Sanchi of the coming of Sanghamitta, the sister of 
Mahinda, bringing with her a branch of the sacred Bo- 
tree. It stands today in the Meghavana Park, a citadel 
of the orthodox. It seems to totter, yet life still courses 
in its ancient veins—at once a relic and a symbol of the 
amazing vitality of the Dhamma. And the mighty 
cities of Anuradhapura (third century B.c. to seventh 
century A.D.) and of Polunaruwa (eighth to thirteenth 
century A.D.), ruined though they are and half buried by 
jungle, are equally eloquent of its powers of recovery, and 
of the close alliance of church and state in the island. 
Even Kandy, the capital of a later and degenerate era, 
has its royal palace and its Temple of the Tooth practi- 
cally under one roof. 

The history of the kings of Ceylon from Tissa, the 
friend and ally of Asoka, onward is intimately bound up 
with that of Buddhism; and sometimes the alliance bene- 
fited the people, as in the noble instance of Dutthagamini 
of the house of Tissa, who, leading out his armies to crush 
Elara, the Tamil usurper, was seized by the truly Buddhist 
conviction that battles are vain and disastrous. Halting 
his armies he rode forth alone on his great elephant, 
challenged Elara to single combat, slew him, and erected 
a monument to his memory. Dutthagamani is perhaps 


the Asoka of Ceylon, and eleven chapters of the Mah- 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 107 


awamsa tell us of his pious works, among them the 
Ruanweli Dagoba, greatest of Anuraddhapura’s great 
pagodas, to the founding of which came Buddhists from 
lands as far off as Alexandria’ and Kashmir; for the 
Dhamma was already far flung. Another patron and 
builder was Vatthagamani, who reigned in the first century 
B.c. He built the Abhayagiri Dagoba, and in his reign 
we hear of the first heresies, none of which, however, 
amounted to a breaking away from Hinayana, though as 
Huien-Tsiang tells us, Mahayana was also studied in 
some of the viharas of Ceylon. MHere, especially at 
Abhayagiri, dwelt the schismatic Vetulyas. They were 
strong enough to maintain a separate existence for twelve 
centuries, refusing to be reconciled to the great and 
orthodox Mahavihara. 

As we read of the great building activity of the kings, 
and visit the colossal remains of their ancient cities, we 
cannot but realize that the Sangha was not an unmixed 
blessing; by the end of the fourth century Fa-Hian tells 
us there were over 50,000 monks in the island, and today 
one-third of its arable land is monastic property. At the 
head of the thousand steps leading to Mahinda’s retreat 
are two well-wrought marble slabs which tell of the gifts 
of various kings, and lay down regulations for the manage- 
ment of the vast estates belonging to the monastery. 
Such records are common in the island, and the gradual 
conquest of it by Indian invaders and by the encroaching 
jungle suggests a people worn out by the exactions of an 
aristocratic and austere religion, which throve most when 
kings smiled upon it. Some of these kings, however, 
inspired by its true spirit—that of the Bodhisattva—built 


1 The “Alasanda” of the chronicle may be an Indo-Greek town, or it may be 
the Egyptian Alexandria. Asoka sent a mission to Tulamayo or Ptolemy of Egypt. 


108 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


roads and irrigation tanks, and the monks for their part 
have laid upon the world the debt of having transcribed, 
edited, and preserved the Tipitaka. It is possible that 
the whole dbhidhamma is their work. This literary 
activity went on from about 20 B.c. until the fifth 
century A.D., when the great commentaries were composed. 
The greatest of these monastic commentators, Bud- 
dhaghosa, a convert from Hinduism, is said to have proved 
his fitness for the task by writing the great work, Visuddhi 
Magga, “Path of Purity or Salvation,” a systematic 
exposition of the Theravada. After this, with amazing 
energy and erudition, he produced a series of notable 
commentaries on the chief Pali books: “In these works, 
while the life of the Buddha as a monk is still clearly 
realized, he is also thought of as a sort of divine being 
exercising cosmic powers as in the Mahayana.’ In this 
state of indecision as to its Founder’s real nature Ceylon 
Buddhism has remained to this day, and Buddhaghosa is 
largely responsible for this crystallization of the religion 
at a stage of suspended judgment. Insisting that Pali 
was the language for the canonical books,? he further 
safeguarded their integrity by his admirable commentaries, 
of which we may note especially the Visuddhi Magga. 

It has three main divisions: (1) chapters i and ii, deal- 
ing with Sila, conduct; (2) chapters iii to xii, dealing with 
Samadhi, meditation; and (3) chapters xiii to xxiii, deal- 
ing with Pafifia, intuitive knowledge of religious truth. In 
other words, it consists of a commentary upon the three 
great disciplines of meditation and the transcendental 
knowledge which are based upon right behavior, and it has 


tJ. N. Farquhar, Outlines of the Religious Literature of India, p. 155. 


2 About 400 A.D. Mahadhammakathi had translated the suttas into Sinhalese. 
There is little evidence for the tradition that Buddhaghosa destroyed the Sinhalese 
version of any of the books. 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 109 


served to keep the monks of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam 
true to the dictum of early Buddhism, “No pafifia without 
samadhi, no samadhi without panffia.” It has also kept 
before them the far-off goal, Nibbana, and though to 
this day they differ among themselves as to its exact 
nature, they all agree as to the way of reaching it, and 
turn austerely and resolutely away from the less stoical 
devotion of the Mahayana. Hopelessly, yet with dogged 
endurance, they cling to the forty subjects of meditation, 
and if none attains to the six High Powers, or abhififia, 
yet for the most part they abstain from worldliness, and 
some reach a certain wise and gentle patience which is 
true to type. 

With Buddhaghosa Pali became the classic language 
of the island, and the copying and recopying of the Tipitika 
on palm-leaf strips has become one of the main activities 
of the monks. They have remained the champions of 
Theravada orthodoxy as against the Mahayana, of which 
some traces are found in the island, and against Hinduism, 
which has been an ever present rival, between whose cham- 
pions and the Bhikkhus debate and controversy have been 
frequent and bitter. Ofone such debate, which took place 
in the ninth or tenth century, we have a record in the life 
of Manikka Vachagar, the Tamil poet. With his face 
veiled so that he should not see their “ill-omened counte- 
nances,” the poet met a Buddhist delegation which had 
been summoned to the king’s court at Madura in South 
India. In the presence of the two kings, their backers, 
and of innumerable deities who regarded with a jealous 
indignation the deification of Sakyamuni, the poet is seen 
challenging the Buddhists to show reason for their pres- 
ence. They are no whit abashed. “To tell the city 
are we come that there is no god but him whose worship 


IIO EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


we celebrate, our lord Buddha.” ‘‘Can a hare become 
an elephant? Who is this god of yours?’ “Can one 
reveal the sun to the blind? Yet he is revealed in our 
books, and has been born in many a loving shape.” The 
Buddhist champion then went on to expound the Eight- 
fold Noble Path and the doctrines of Anatta and Anicca. 
The former the Saivite rejected as having nothing original 
in it, and the latter called down his scornful indignation: 

Since all is transient and without substantial entity, where is the 
knower, the knowledge, the object known? Where is the lawgiver 
and deliverer himself ? How does he continue to deliver and to teach ? 
He is by your own showing annihilated; and annihilation is your 
creed. 


He went on to taunt the Buddhists with hypocrisy, for 
with all their special emphasis on ahimsa, or not killing, 
they naively eat the flesh of that which has been killed; 
and the Buddhist champion is represented as having 
retreated, unable to rebut some, at any rate, of these 
arguments. It seems clear that scholastic Hinayana was at 
this time largely annihilationist in its doctrine of Nibbana. 

About this time, driven ignominiously out of South 
India, defeated both by Hindu and Mahayana polytheism, 
orthodox monastic Buddhism was gaining a powerful hold 
in Burma. According to Burmese tradition it was Bud- 
dhagosa himself who first established it there. Yet it is 
certain that it waited until the eleventh century to become 
in any sense a national religion, and as in Asokan India and 
in the Ceylon of many centuries it was the throne which 
raised it to this position. The ancient capital, Arimaddana 
or Pagan, had been for hundreds of years familiar with 
Buddhism, but it was Anawrata who in the middle of the 
eleventh century was converted by a wandering monk 
to the Theravada and became its zealous patron. Send- 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 111 


ing to his neighbor the king of Thaton (Sudhammapura), 
he demanded a complete edition of the Tipitaka, and 
being refused, sacked the town and carried books, monks, 
king, and people to Pagan, now a veritable city of pagodas, 
which he and his successors built. The library was housed 
in a splendid building, and Pagan became a fastness of 
Pali scholarship, especially in grammar and syntax.’ As 
in Ceylon, the 4éhidhamma has especially attracted the 
attention of the monks of Burma, and in the twelfth 
century Anuruddha compiled a commentary upon it cover- 
ing much the same ground as the Visuddhi Magga, but 
more psychological in character.’ 

While, however, Burma is now, and has been since the 
time of Anawrata, a fastness of the Theravada, archaeology 
is revealing traces of a degenerate Mahayana mingled with 
magic and tantric practices, and there was also a constant 
tendency to fuse with the ever present animism, which is 
still so strong among the Burmese. In spite of the efforts 
of Anawrata and others to rid Buddhism of both, the 
religion of the Burmese is by no means free from them 
today, and the cheerful, sunny temperament of the people 
and their naive propitiation of the spirit-world contrast 
strangely with the sad refrain of the monks: “ Dukkha, 
anatta, anicca.” Burmese Buddhists have, moreover, 
a vague, pantheistic philosophy of life which is more akin 
to the Mahayana than to the Hinayana, and their worship 
of the pagoda and of the images, their sharing of merit, — 
their prayers for material and other blessings, and their 
ardent desire to be reborn in a paradise would all seem 
to indicate that the Buddhism of the Burmese masses is 


*The Kariké of Dhammasenapati (eleventh century) and the Saddaniti of Ag- 
gavamsa (twelfth century) are well-known examples of Burmese grammatical works 
on the Pali language. See M. Bode, The Pali Literature of Burma, chap. ii. 


2 The Abhidhammatha Sangaha; see “‘Compendium of Philosophy,” P.T.S., 1910. 


112 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


somewhere between the Hinayana and the Mahayana. 
The great pagoda platform at Rangoon has indeed been 
likened to “the bazaars of Paradise,” where the people 
throng for social as well as religious purposes, and the 
shrines are somewhere between the old chaitya of the 
Hinayana and the temple of the Mahayana. Lights and 
incense burn before innumerable images of the Buddha, 
and here one sees what can only be described as worship. 
It may well be that in its cheerful seriousness the religion 
of the lay-people has not changed much since the days of 
Sakyamuni. Now as then it has made great concessions 
to human needs, which the more stoical and often rather 
unsympathetic monk himself has had to tolerate; yet 
there is much in it, such as its mechanical conception of 
merit and its magic practices of exorcism, which the 
Founder strove to banish. It is, however, by such con- 
cessions, and by seeking to adapt itself to the social life 
of the people, from festive marriages to no less festive 
funerals, and from the birth of the child to the welfare 
of the dead beyond the grave, that Buddhism has made 
itself a national religion in Burma, and is known as 
“Burma custom’; and for these the monks are responsible. 

Yet life within the monastery itself has changed but 
little; the monks are still monks and not priests, and the 
more learned of them regard these popular manifestations 
as sideshows, necessary concessions to human frailty; 
most honored among them 1s still the austere and ascetic 
Arhat. 

The student of conservative monastic Hinayana will 
find in the monasteries of these lands of Southeastern 
Asia a Buddhism which has kept true to type since the 
days of Buddhaghosa and the early champions and 
formulators of the Theravada. 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 113 


In Siam as in Burma Buddhism owes much to the 
Sangha of Ceylon. Though earlier missions had been at 
work from the fifth century a.D. onward, some from Burma 
and some from Camboja, yet it was not until the four- 
teenth century that Siamese Buddhism took its present 
form. King Suryavamsa Rama, following the example of 
Anawrata, sent to Ceylon for a teacher. He received him 
in great pomp at Sukhothai, appointed him Sangharaja, 
a title which his successors have kept, dedicated a golden 
image of the Buddha, and prayed that the merit of this 
act might bring him to Buddhahood. To hasten this 
consummation he himself entered the order, and once 
more we see the age-long struggle of the monastic ideal 
against the secular. It soon took dramatic form, for 
the king’s example spread and the affairs of state lan- 
guished until the people took alarm and insisted that he 
and his court return to their proper spheres. The Siamese 
Sangha pulled hard in the opposite direction, but the 
Ceylonese abbot, who had seen similar conflicts in the 
history of his own people, wisely bade the king return to 
his throne, while he himself would remain king of the 
order. As in Ceylon and Burma, therefore, a division of 
function was arranged, the king and the laity supporting 
the monks and winning merit by their gifts of buildings, 
food, and clothing. The Buddhism of Siam 1s specially 
worthy of study because it still basks in royal favor and 
its Sangharat is still a member of the ruling house. Here, 
in fact, is a Buddhist medieval kingdom with much of 
the glamor of the days of Dutthagamini and of Anawrata 
still upon it. Slowly along the river wind splendid barges 
of state in which the king and his court ride to offer at the 
principal Wats the gifts of clothing which their women 
have been busy preparing; this is the old Buddhist prac- 


114 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


tice of Kathina, the preparing of robes for the monks, 
to which the whole country gives itself every October. 
Within the monasteries also, the spirit of devotion 1s alive. 
The yearly examination of candidates for degrees in Pali 
learning has been lately restored, and is making for higher 
standards. 

All these lands of Southeastern Asia are indeed fast- 
nesses of the Hinayana; the yellow robe of the monk and 
the bizarre roofs of pagodas and monasteries are the 
most striking features of a tropical landscape. Here 
Buddhism flourishes; Siam has over fifty thousand monks 
and ten thousand novices; Burma has nearly sixteen 
thousand monasteries, and those of Ceylon own a third 
of the arable land of the island. Though the great 
strongholds Mihintale, Arimaddana, and Sukhothai lie 
in ruins, and the jungle struggles to reclaim them, yet 
the life of the monks goes on unchanged, and the people 
are well content with Buddhism so long as it tolerates 
their superstitions and continues to provide religious 
junketings and elementary education. Its moral code 
too they know and appreciate, even if, like the rest of us, 
they select from it those things which are not too high 
and difficult. The great lesson of compassion, for example, 
they admire even when they let it peter out to a one-sided 
emphasis on taking no life; liberality they conceive in a 
truly liberal spirit as their gifts to monastery and pagoda 
and their hospitality to strangers bear witness. In these 
ways sila and dana are observed by most. The third great 
pillar of the Buddhist system, jhana, or meditation, they 
leave for the most part to the monks; but in certain old 
people there are to be seen a wistful striving after this high 
goal and a conviction that Nibbana, though it is very far 
off, is an alluring ideal, and that when Metteyya Buddha 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 115 


comes their feet will be guided along that steep road. In 
the meantime they can win merit alike for themselves and 
for their families, and they aspire to the honorable title 
of ‘‘pagoda-builder.”’ In all these lands too it is common 
for one son to become a monk; and in Burma all boys are 
admitted for a period to the Sangha. 

To enter the monastic life is easy, and the Pabbajja, 
or act of leaving the world, is dramatically represented by 
putting off the rich apparel, shaving the head, and donning 
the yellow robe; it is followed by the Upasampada, or 
ordination, a simple ceremony in which the candidate 1s 
examined and sponsored by his tutor, and then repeats 
the ancient formula: “I take refuge in Buddha, the 
Sangha, and the Dhamma.” 

Undoubtedly many world-weary men and many unsuc- 
cessful in worldly callings find their way into the order, 
and the vocation to the monastic life, as in all religions, 
is a rare one; but criminals and other undesirables are 
usually kept out. 

The orders are Samanéra, Novice (Burmese, Shin; 
Siamese, Samanen), Bhikkhu, Monk (Burmese, Pyit- 
shin; Siamese, Phikhu), and Thera, Elder (Burmese, 
Pongyi; Siamese, Phra), and there is in addition in 
Burma a tendency to a hierarchy, culminating in the 
Superior, or Thathanabaing, who, under the Burmese 
kings, wielded a power like that of the great abbots in the 
palmy days of the Ceylon monarchy. In Siam the king’s 
brother is head of the order, Sangharat, and under him 
are four chief abbots nominated by the king and called 
Somdetchao. 

The monks of all these countries are on the whole well 
versed in the scriptures, some of them knowing whole 
books by heart, and special fame attaches to scholars of 


116 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


the dificult and abstruse 4bhidhamma; the inscription at 
Mihintale referred to above lays down the regulation 
that a monk who can repeat this Higher Religion is to 
receive twelve measures of rice as against five for the 
repeater of the Vinaya, and seven for the repeater of the 
Sutta. In other words, the third Basket is as valuable 
and as difficult as the other two put together! The most 
fruitful and the most arduous of the monkish exercises is 
the practice of the various forms of meditation prescribed 
in this collection, and in such commentaries as the 
Visuddhi Magga we find a description of forty Kam- 
matthanas which include: (1) ten recollections (anussati) 
upon the Three Jewels, morality, liberality, the gods, 
death, the body, the Yoga practice of deep breathing, and 
calmness; (2) ten Asubhabhavana, or contemplations of 
unpleasant states of the dead and decaying body, which 
lead to disgust and detachment; (3) the Brahmavihara, 
or spiritual abode of the sentiments of benevolence 
(Mettam), compassion (Karuna), cheerful sympathy 
(Mudita) and equanimity (Upekkha), which Buddhism 
took over from the Yoga of ancient India; (4) ten Kasina, 
practices of concentrated attention upon such objects as 
earth, water, space, air, primary colors, etc. 

These practices lead to a unification of consciousness 
(cittassa ekaggata), and to serene mental states in which 
the schoolmen distinguished four Jhanas, or stages, and 
the experience of the austere pleasure of these states of 
Samadhi is, as we have seen, the kernel of the whole 
Buddhist religion, interpreted in its highest manifestation 
as the realization of Nibbana and the cessation of Samsara. 

It is the attainment of some measure of success in these 
high exercises which keeps the Sangha alive and expectant; 
and when any monk shows promise of becoming expert 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 117 


in them his fame spreads rapidly, and hope revives that 
an Arhat is once more to be found among men. He will 
be recognized by possessing the abhififia, which are the 
divine ear which can catch all sounds, the divine eye which 
can see to the utmost confines of space, the power of work- 
ing miracles and of reading the thoughts of others, and 
memory of former existences. 

About this hope, forlorn and precarious as it must seem 
to us, the life of the Sangha is organized, and in the daily 
round of the monks of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam we have 
undoubtedly a picture of Theravada Buddhism as it has 
been preserved for at least two thousand years. 

Their Patimokkha (“Cuirass,” or code of discipline) 
was almost certainly forged in ancient days, and is 
accepted by all schools of Buddhists. In its shorter form, 
that of the Pali language, it contains 227 rules, and in the 
Chinese and Tibetan form 250 and 259, respectively. 
These rules are recited in Southeastern Asia twice a 
month. Gathering in one of their central halls, the 
brethren of the yellow robe sit in solemn assembly, and 
as each regulation is recited, are admonished to confess 
if they have broken it. But, as in the Christian church, 
such public confession is almost always replaced either by 
secret confession to one another, or by silence. 

More familiar is the pindapatika, or collection of food 
from the laity. Solemnly, in the early morning, a file of 
monks is seen to pass down the village street, stopping 
without a word at each house with downcast eyes, begging 
bowls held out; no word of thanks is spoken, for it is the 
donor who gains the merit; and in most monasteries it 
is the dogs who benefit in material things, for a more 
palatable meal is usually prepared for the mendicants by 
those who remain within doors. The letter of the old 


118 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


law is kept also in the practice of the Pamsakulika, or 
Kathina. The Founder having enjoined upon his monks 
that they should go clad in rags, new cloth, often specially 
woven and dyed for the monks, is cut up by the laity into 
small squares and then sewn together again. 

A day in a monastery of one of these lands passes leis 
urely and not unpleasantly, with a reasonable division of 
function: the younger to attend to the wants of the elder; 
all to do their share of meditation; while some are set 
apart for the teaching of the primary school. 

What do they teach the laity of religious truth? 
Clearly the 4bhidhamma is too high for them; the Vinaya 
is for the monks alone; and strangely the Suttas, so rich 
in biographic material, are not so much used as the 
Fatakas, or myths, among which that of the Vessantara 
is most popular. Very well known too is a summary of 
the ethic for laymen, the Maha Mangala Sutta (Burmese, 
Mingala thot), and a “Song of the Eight Victories,” 
which tells how the Blessed One vanquished his foes, 
physical, intellectual, and spiritual. These runes are 
used as Pirit, a magic ceremony, which the laity have come 
to associate most with the monks. If snakes are to be 
driven out, or a pestilence stayed, the monk is called in, 
and he often improves the occasion by preaching upon 
the cardinal tenet of ahimsa (not killing). The villagers 
may want to drive out a nest of cobras, or the govern- 
ment may urge the extermination of the rat and the mos- 
quito, but there stands the monk, an embodied con- 
science. “Let them not harm their little brothers, but 
trust to the power of spirit, and give gifts to the Sangha.” 
The doctrine of merit (kusalam) won by such gifts, or 
by building shrines, has become the warp and woof of 

tSee my Heart of Buddhism. 


MIHINTALE, ARIMADDANA, SUKHOTHAI 119 


lay-religion in Ceylon, Siam, and Burma. “The laity 
to make offerings, the monk to meditate; thus both win 
merit” is the accepted division of labor. It is perhaps 
not unfair to say that the former plays the game more 
honorably than the latter. After all, it is easier to part 
with a coin than to keep a vigil. 

The Buddhism of Southeastern Asia is not troubled 
much by denominations. They are of minor importance, 
and do not lead to serious friction. In Ceylon, for 
example, the Siam sect is more aristocratic and exclusive 
than the others, admitting only members of the upper 
castes—a course to which it may well have been driven 
by competition with Hinduism. In Burma again the 
Sulagandi lay more stress than the Mahagandi upon free 
will, and in Siam the Dhammayut is a reformed and 
more rigorous sect. But the hospitality of the monastery 
is not denied the visitor of other sects, and at great national 
festivals, such as that of the Buddha’s Tooth at Kandy, 
cne may see a striking demonstration of the fundamental 
unity of the Sangha. Here, bowing low before the 
reputed relic of their great leader, respected by the laity 
as custodians of his Dhamma, we may leave them, join- 
ing, before we go, in the cry which goes up from the 
assembled multitude: “Sadhu—Well done!’ for we too 
are debtors to the brethren of the yellow robe! 


CHAPTER VI 
LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 
Buddhism in China (ca. roo—600 A.D.) 


“Confucian China would never have accepted the Idealism of India 
had not Lao-tze and Taoism towards the end of the Chow dynasty pre- 
pared a psychological foundation for the development of both these extremes 
of Asiatic thought.” —OKAKURA. 


“The Way of Confucius and the Way of Sakyamuni are two wings; 
without either China cannot fly.’ —WeEN Lt. 


While Gotama was preaching in the Ganges Valley, 
Confucius and Lao-tze were grafting upon the ancient 
Chinese stock of animism, or naturism, their own distinc- 
tive teachings. And while in India and adjoining coun- 
tries the exclusive Hinayana was being transmuted into 
the universalist Mahayana, this great parent-stem of 
Chinese religion was being shaped to receive the new 
graft.* Here is material of vital interest for a philosophy 
of history which must some day be written, and in it we 
may note these stages: (1) sixth century B.c.—(a) 
Sakyamuni in India, Confucius in China, teachers differ- 
ing radically in purpose, and yet agreeing on certain 
great fundamentals of morality; (4) Sakyamuni in India, 
Lao-tze in China giving a general background for such 
teachings in the idea of a Dhamma, or Tao, a Norm, 
natural “order,” or “road” following which men attain 
to righteousness; and both essentially Mystics; (2) the 


™Cf. De Groot, “Confucian Religion,” EZ.R.E., Vol. IV, and his “Religion in 
China,” pp. 2-3; cf. his comment: “It is a remarkable coincidence that this greatest 
moment in the development of religion in China was synchronous with the birth of 
Christ and Christianity.” 


I20 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, T’IEN T’AI 121 


leaven at work in both lands, moralizing the ancient faiths, 
bringing order and harmony to men’s thought, and adding 
a mystic tinge to moral endeavor; (3) second century 
B.c. to second century A.D.—the grafting of the new 
teachings upon the ancient faiths until they become the 
main branches; and (4) the gradual shaping of the 
Indian branch and of the Chinese trunk for the grafting 
of the former upon the latter. Such, in bare outline, are 
the stages of a long and remarkable process for which the 
metaphor of grafting is too simple; another from the same 
science, that of cross-fertilization, would be more appro- 
priate; but for our purpose that used will suffice to indicate 
the great event in Chinese history which we have now to 
study—the introduction of Buddhism. 

So well was this grafting done that by the sixth 
century Buddhist monuments show the Buddha attended 
by Confucian and Taoist gods, and we meet the scholar, 
Fu Hsi, dressed in a Taoist cap, a Buddhist stole, and 
Confucian shoes, and pointing to each in turn when the 
emperor questioned him as to his religious beliefs. It is 
interesting to reflect that we in the West are nearly two 
thousand years behind the East in the comparative study 
of religion, and early in the ninth century the scholar, 
Tsung Mi of Kwei Féng, published his famous Origin of 
Man in which the teaching of the three schools are com- 
pared, criticized in detail, and reconciled.t. The Chinese 
is not unreasonable nor superficial when he refuses to say 
that he belongs exclusively to any of the San Chiao, the 
“three which are one”’; nor is it indeed possible today to 
divorce Confucian ethics from Buddhist philosophy and 
religion, with which Taoism is inextricably interwoven. 


1B.N., Yuen Fan Lun, 1594. “The teachings of Kung-fu-tsz, Lao-tsz and Shakya 
are different . . . . each supplementing the other.” For a translation of this important 
work see K. Nukariya, Religion of the Samurai. 


122 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


It is no more possible to say when or how the first 
Buddhist mission in China began; yet an early chronicle 
records a mission in 217 B.c. when Li Fang and seventeen 
others arrived at Hsi-An;* and there is every reason to 
suppose that the great caravan roads allowed interchange 
of ideas as well as of merchandise. And the great Han 
dynasty (202 B.c.—220 A.D.) may well have used such help 
as Buddhism affords in consolidating its rule. Such may 
be the meaning of the famous dream of the Emperor 
Ming-Ti (58-76 a.p.), that a high, shining “golden God” 
appeared to him and entered his palace; such dreams do 
not come “‘out of the blue’”’; there must have been some 
basis for the vision in thoughts already in the emperor’s 
mind, and in some Buddhist image or Buddhist teachings 
already circulating in China. Nor could Ming-Ti’s dream 
be interpreted unless a knowledge of Buddhism already 
existed in China. Indeed an image is said to have been 
brought back by an expedition in 121 B.c. And when the 
emperor obeyed the vision, sending an embassy of 
eighteen, and summoning the missionaries, She Moteng 
(or Kasyapa Matanga) and Ku-fa-lan (or Gobharana), 
in 65 A.D. from Khotan, they succeeded so well that we 
may believe that they were sowing on soil previously 
prepared. They both came from Central India, but had 
worked in the land of the Yuehchi; and now in 67 a.p. 
they settled at the capital, and the one work assigned to 
them which has come down to us was a handbook of 
moral teaching which could give no great alarm either 
to Confucianists or to Taoists, and which might be 
claimed equally well by Hinayana and by Mahayana 
Buddhists. 


*The legend that they were sent by Asoka if not exact (he died about 231 B.c.) 
may yet have some truth in it, for the impetus he gave to Buddhist missions lived on. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN TAI 193 


The scene of their labors was the ancient city of 
Loyang,* now once more the center of a splendid civiliza- 
tion, for the great dynasty of Eastern Han had chosen this 
peaceful yet busy capital in the valley of the Hoang-ho, 
where great trade roads met. And here the missionaries 
found a cosmopolitan society, and were given a cordial 
welcome by the emperor.?. Weary with their long journey, 
they would enjoy the wide prospect over lake and river, 
and not far away were mountains dear to the Buddhist 
heart. Here in the Royal Library they worked, and their 
first apologetic is still an honored classic, a proof of the 
tact and skill with which they approached the Chinese 
mind. An early record tells us that they “concealed 
their deep learning and did not translate many books”; 
if they did nothing but give to the Chinese this Sitra of 
Forty-two Sayings, their mission was amply justified. It 
seems to be a compilation from larger works, intended as 
a manual for the use of the emperor and other inquirers, 
and is wisely cast in a Confucian mold. Each paragraph 
begins after the manner of the Analects, ‘Thus saith the 
Master,” and most of the more controversial things of 
Buddhism are omitted. 

First comes a brief statement of the facts of Sakya- 
muni’s life, a reference to the two hundred and fifty rules 
for monks, and then the ten precepts and the four stages 
of Arhatship. Next is a discourse on compassion and 
patient meekness which is very Taoist; let the sage re- 
member that whosoever insults him is like one who spits 
against the sky, his spittle returns upon his own head! 


1 Modern Honan-fu. 


2 While Kasyapa and his colleague were being welcomed to the Chinese capital, 
SS. Peter and Paul were being put to death in Rome. This is an illustration at once of 
the superiority of Chinese tolerance, and of the less revolutionary character of Buddhism 


as compared with Christianity. It seems to have supported the imperialism of the 
Han dynasty at least. 


x 


nei } 


————— 


— 


124 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


The Way is difficult, yet the pure in heart and single in 
purpose can understand it, and it is a Way of joy and 
power—the power of meekness, which is restful and pure. 
By it ignorance is vanquished, lust is cast out, and freedom 


, attained. Let all be benevolent but avoid attachment, 
\which clouds the mind and dulls the keen edge of the 


spirit. He who is bound to wife and child is more closely 
a captive than he who lies manacled in prison. Better 
be thrown to a tiger than submit to such bondage. 

Here is the usual monastic teaching of Buddhism, 
which even in so careful an apologia will out, and we can- 
not wonder that it met with opposition in a land of filial 
piety like China. But, as if to disarm criticism, the 
Sutra goes on to suggest a sublimated family life; if the 
monk meets women he is to treat the young as sisters or 
daughters, the old as mothers. 

There follows sane advice upon the discipline of mind 
and body which should be as a well-tuned lute, and some 
characteristic questions and answers as to the real nature 
of the life of man; a passage of especial interest, no doubt, 
to the Taoists. The Buddha asked his disciples: “What 
is the life of man?” “It is the span allotted to him on 
earth,” said one; “Thou knowest not the Way,” said the 
Master. “It is the (energy of the) food we eat,” said 
another; “Nor thou,” replied the Master. “‘It is the 
sequence of many single moments,” ventured a third. 
“Thou,” exclaimed the Master, “art not far from the 
true Way!” 

All this is typical Hinayana Buddhism, with perhaps 
rather more emphasis on the Bodhisattva than on the Arhat 
ideal; but there are two passages which suggest that the 
compilers were looking toward a more developed doctrine 
of the person of the Buddha, and which at a later date 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 125 


helped to transform Buddhism in China from a way of 
conduct to a way of devotion: “Rely not on thine own 
will,” and again, ‘You may be far from me, O my chil- 
dren! Keep my precepts and you will be as in my 
Presence, 

The two pioneers did not long survive their arrival at 
the capital, but they left a tradition of sound ‘scholafship 
and earnest work, and their monastery of the White 
Horse, Pai MaSst, became the model for many of its 
successors. ‘Toil on as the ox plods through deep mire, 
his eyes fixed on the goal that lies ahead”; in these words 
of their Sutra we may find perhaps an echo of their resolute 
endeavor, and their fitting epitaph. 

Seventy years went by before a second mission arrived 
to carry on their work. In 148 a.p. came the “Parthian 
Prince,” Anshikao, whose birth and education had fitted 
him to develop the work of adaptation they had begun, 
and who for twenty-two years toiled in Loyang at the task 
of translation.‘ No less than one hundred and seventy- 
six works are attributed to him, of which fifty-five remain, 
the majority being translations of books of the Pali canon, 
but some being apparently independent works; and to 


him is due the first introduction into China of the \/ 


Amitabha sects, which have run so victorious a course. 
That the historic Sakyamuni survived and was not far 
from his faithful disciple—such might be the pious infer- 
ence from the Sura of Forty-two Sayings; that behind 
him stood the Eternal Father—such was the explicit 
doctrine of the Amitdyur-dhyana Sitra which Anshikao 
and his Indo-Scythian colleague, Lokaraksha, known to 
the Chinese as Leou Kia Tchang, now made accessible 


™ Meanwhile Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius were ruling in Rome, Papias and 
Polycarp were being martyred, and Justin Martyr was defending Christianity. 


126 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


to them. It seems clear that from the first the masses 
of the people were not attracted by the monastic type 
——~ of the new religion; in fact, four centuries passed before 
Chinese were admitted to the order, and the ideal of a 
family life in the Paradise of Amitabha Buddha (Omito FS) \ VA 
attracted those whom the lonely peace of Nirvana left cold. 
There was, moreover, as we have indicated, a strong and 
venerable theistic cult which perhaps predisposed the 
hearts and minds of the Chinese to Omito F6; already for 
more than two thousand years the emperor had offered 
prayer and sacrifice for the nation on high places like 
Tai Shan to Shang Ti, whose name is used by Christian 
missionaries today as the name of God, and 1s universally 
revered in China. 

With Omito F6 came another deity already familiar 
to us; known in India as Avalokitesvara he is beloved in 
China as Kwanyin or Koan-cheu-yinn, an attempt to 
translate his name, “the god who looks down or hears the 
cry of man.” It is as Avalokitesvara that Amitabha 
comes to earth. Of these compassionate beings Anshikao, / 
had no doubt himself become a worshiper, and we may 
picture him as he turned in worship to the setting sun, 
filled with poignant memories of home and dear ones, 
whom he would one day meet in the Western Paradise. 
Did visions of Omito Fo come to him? Ifso he is one of a 
great company in China of whom it is believed that their 
devotion has been rewarded by radiant manifestations of 
this Lord of Bliss; and at such places as Puto Shan the 
pilgrim still strives to see the Lady Kwanyin (for she is 
the most popular form of Avalokitesvara), shining in the 
spray of sea or waterfall. Nor has this cult lacked devo- 
tees among the sages; as early as the sixth century we 
find the great Indian scholar, Bodhiruci, who translated 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 127 


the Amitayus-Sutropadesa into Chinese," chiding a Taoist 
alchemist for his vain search for the elixir of life: 


How vain these prayers for five-score years 
Of such poor life as this! 

When Life is yours in endless stores 
Of Amitayu’s Bliss. 

With these two missions at Loyang begins the first 
great epoch of Chinese Buddhism—an epoch of translation 
lasting for four centuries, during which leaders from foreign 
lands were patiently educating a Chinese church and 
forming a Buddhist mind in China. That there was 
Opposition is clear, for the Han period was strongly Con- 
fucian,? and a steady production of polemical and apolo- 
getic works went on, of which we may cite the defense of 
Buddhism, by Moutzu, a contemporary of the Christian 
apologists Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, and a 
convert from Confucianism, who with considerable skill 
uses his knowledge of the three religions to show that the 
Buddhist doctrine of impermanence is truer than the 
Taoist attempts to prolong life, and that, on the other 
hand, the mere morality of Confucius is not enough, 
though it is a good basis of government. Buddhism 
faces the facts of life, yet offers a mystical satisfaction to 
the yearnings of the human heart. It is difficult and 
austere, yet by no means unnatural, as its critics aver. 

That Buddhism sometimes descended to the miracle- 
mongering of the later Taoists is evidenced by the work 
of Fo-t’u-cheng, who had a vast number of disciples and is 
credited with the founding of nearly nine hundred monas- 
teries, and whose pupil, Tao-an, was one of the leading 
Buddhist thinkers of the fourth century. 


tT B.N., 1204. 


2 China has never ceased to be so, and in 555 a.D. an imperial edict enacted that 
every provincial city should have its Confucian temple. 


128 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


At Loyang also worked Ku Fa Hu or Dharmaraksha 
(266-313 A.D.), of Chinese Turkestan, translating many of 
the scriptures, among them two which have played a great 
part in the popularizing of Buddhism in China—the 
“Lotus of the Good Law’* and the Ulambana Sitra. 
The “Lotus,” with its glorified Sakyamuni and its note of 
universal salvation, was a gospel to satisfy the Chinese, 
and the Ullambana Sutra gave a place within Buddhism 
to the Chinese veneration for the dead, providing masses 
and other ceremonies by’which-filtal piety may further the 
well-being of the departed. Here was a triumphant 
answer to Confucian and other critics: “You neglect 
filial piety”? was their charge; “On the contrary,” the 
Buddhist could now reply, “we practice it even beyond 
the grave.” Modern China spends millions yearly on 
masses for the dead, and it 1s a common sight to see some 
layman kneeling devoutly before the abbot of a great 
monastic house while services on behalf of his dead are 
intoned by choirs of monks. 

In the tantric and some other sects the Buddhist 
pantheon is classified as guardians of the soul, each having 
his appointed period of service, and there are regular 
festivals of the dead, such as the Bon Matsuri of midsum- 
mer, so well known to visitors to Japan. In all Buddhist 
countries the pre-Buddhist animism has been blended 
in such ways with the cult, and indeed with the philosophy, 
of the new faith. In the Ullambana Sitra it is recorded 
that the great Moggallana, having attained the celestial 
eye of the Arhat, used it to investigate the present condi- 
tion of his dead parents. Seeing his mother toiling at 
some penitential task in the dim underworld, he asked the 
Master how he could help her. The reply was unhesitating: 

t Chinese Kan fa hwa kin. See B.N., 138. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 129 


Nothing can help thy parents, except my monks. They only 
can work on her behalf. This must thou do. On the fifteenth day 
of the seventh month go offer a rich gift of food and drink, of garments 
and other choice offerings to the Brethern. They are a field of merit, 
in which if thou sowest thou shalt reap a rich harvest, and shalt help 
thy dead even to the seventh generation. 


This is true to the earliest Buddhist teaching; why 
weep for the dead when you can help them in such a 
practical way? 

What boots for them your wailing and your tears? 
Mourning ye do but plough the desert sand! 
But offerings to the Brethren surely bring 
Rich harvests to the hungry Spirit-land. 


For there’s no farming in the Spirit-world, 
No tilth, nor herds nor any merchandise; 
Alms of the faithful are their only hope: 
Your charity alone the under-world supplies. 
So teaches the Buddha, or his monkish chronicler,? and 
perhaps the finest flower of this devotion is seen on the 
sacred mountain Koyasan, where stands a monument to 
all who fell in the war with Korea, friend and foe alike. 
He who would understand the spirit of the East will not 
pass lightly over these inveterate beliefs, but may, if he 
will, learn here some lessons which will enrich life: 
One long deep breath, a sigh from sleeping earth, 
As though in troubled dreams her spirit stirred, 
And all is still. No call of wakeful bird, 
No lift of leaf on trembling wave of air, 
But soulful silence brooding everywhere; 
The stars are veiled, and from their heights are heard 
The noiseless sweep of spirit forces, stirred 
As at the moment of some wondrous birth. 


*From The Heart of Buddhism. 


2It is interesting to note that offerings to the dead were prohibited in the Deu- 
teronomic reforms in Israel, and that the priests there too benefited by the practice! 


einai, 


130 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Before each household shrine the candle gleams; 
The food is spread for guests that come unseen; 
And human faith in simple ways is fed. 

The air is filled with lucent, mystic beams; 

They come indeed, the loved and lost, I ween; 
And human hearts by lowly ways to God are led.? 


Such are the beliefs and practices, childlike perhaps, yet 
sprung from deep roots of human love, which express 
themselves most finely in the Bodhisattva; if merit is 
“reversible,” let me turn it over to all who need it. Such 
is the resolution of the Bodhisattvas: 
May these, our deeds of merit, all 
The universe of life pervade: 


And may we soon to Bodhi win 
And with us take the souls we aid. 


Here then at Loyang by the end of the third century 
A.D. Buddhism was proving its power to appeal to the 
masses as well as to the philosopher. With the fall of 
the great Han dynasty its center now shifts to the capital 


-of the eastern Chins, Chang-an, where for a hundred years 


it basked in the favor of the court, until the Tartar 
invasion drove it south to Shien-yeh, now called Nanking. 

Situated on the Waiho River, a tributary of the 
Hoang-ho, Chang-an? was.a wonderful center of intellectual 
and artistic life. Here six great trade roads converged, 
thronged then as they are today with an endless and varied 
stream of traffic. And with the caravans came a steady 
succession of Buddhist missionaries. As a prisoner from 
Kharakar came Kumarajiva, in 383, a man of loose life 
but of profound scholarship, who had been converted 
from the Theravada to the Mahayana; and we read of 


t Translated by Dr. Lombard, quoted in The Faith of Fapan by T. Harada. 
2 Later called Singan-fu. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 131 


embassies from Persia, of Zoroastrians, and of Manichees, 
all mingling in the great city. Here later came Nestorian 
missionaries and received a cordial welcome as teachers 
of a doctrine at once “pacific, mysterious, and free from 
verbosity,’ until soon the land was filled with their 
“Temples of Joy” and it seemed as if a new international 
bond were to link China with India and the West. In 
the seventh century also flourished Shan-tao, leader of the 
Amitabha sects, and he and the Nestorians had much in 
common. The place and the era alike favored the 
exchange of ideas. Now in the fourth century began the 
travels of the Chinese pilgrims to India. While Kum- 
arajiva was settling at Chang-an, Fa-Hian (399-413 A.D.), 
first of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, was making his famous 
journey to India, and his Record of the Buddha Land 
is a priceless document,’ and tells of great intellectual 
activity in Buddhist India and Ceylon. In the Far West 
Augustine, Chrysostom, and Jerome were doing yeoman 
service to Christianity. East and West alike, this was 
an age of devotion as well as of acute speculative thought, 
and now perhaps for the first time, with Tadan in the south 
and Kumarajiva and his colleagues at Chang-an, Buddhist 
philosophy won for itself a firm hold upon the thinkers 
of China. So excellent too was their rendering of the 
Sanskrit texts into Chinese that their works are still read 
as models of classical expression. Kumarajiva gave 
special attention to Asvaghoga and Nagarjuna, whose 
biographies he translated, and of the philosophical 
works he made available to the Chinese we may select 
three whose influence has been immense. First may be 
mentioned Nagarjuna’s Commentary on the Avatamsaka 


* B.N., 1496; Fo-Kwo-Ki, French translation by A. Rémusat (1836), English by 
S. Beal (1869), H. A. Giles (1877), J. Legge (1886), and T. Watters (1918). 


132 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Siitra (Hua Yen)* which has molded the philosophic 
thought, and the Fan-Wan-King,? or “Net of Brahma,” 
which has guided the monastic life of China, Korea, and 
Japan. The latter is rather strangely called by De Groot, 
“the most important of the sacred books of the East,” 
and “‘the principal instrument of the great Buddhist art 
of salvation.” It opens with an apocalyptic vision of the 
usual Mahayana type: Seated at the heart of a gigantic 
lotus is Roshana, a Buddha whose colossal (and very ugly) 
image is familiar to visitors to Nara, but who plays a 
minor part in the religion. The lotus on which he is 
enthroned has a thousand petals, each of them a world, 
and about the central figure throng the Bodhisattvas of 
the universe, to whom he preaches the high and difficult 
way of renunciation, patience, zeal, joyous endeavor, medi- 
tation, and enthusiasm for the welfare of the world. Let 
them press forward to the high peaks of achievement, 
and they will arrive, albeit by steep ways, at the goal of 
Nirvana. All the worlds are, as it were, beads upon the 
great net of Brahma, who as Creator has set them in their 
appointed station. At this point appears Sakyamuni, 
returning from a visit to Siva, the destroyer of the Hindu 
pantheon, and declares that he is in communion with the 
gods as well as with the Buddhas, claiming that authority 
is given to him in this age, as it was to Roshana in the 
past, and that the rules and regulations have now been 
made more detailed and precise. He then sets forth the 
forty-eight rules of Mahayana, and declares that the 
Hinayana is a slow and tedious path, and that it is 
possible by obedience to become without delay a Bod- 
hisattva or even a Buddha. This is, of course, orthodox 
Mahayana doctrine, but the situation is made piquant 
™B.N., 1180. 2 [bid., 1087. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 133 


by putting it into the mouth of Sakyamuni himself, who, 
as Father Wieger says, “is made to anathematize his 
own teachings, and to recommend things to which he 
had given never a thought.”* Here clearly Hinduism 
has begun the peaceful penetration of Buddhism, and it is 
not surprising to find this amazing book, like the Chinese 
version of the “Lotus,” go on to prescribe the cruel brand- 
ing of the scalp which is still largely practiced in China— 
though tapas, or austerity of this sort, is condemned, 
with murder and butchery, by the Founder. Here, how- 
ever, we find the usual admirable exhortations to benev- 
olence toward all living things; but the motive is more 
Hindu than Buddhist. “Are they not all bound up in 
the one great bundle of life, in the meshes of the net of 
Brahma?” “All,” said Gotama, “are your kindred and 
your fellow-pilgrims”; “All,” adds the Fan-Wan-King, 
“are children of the same creative Power.” 

Side by side with this rather popular theology 
Kumarajiva gave to the Chinese the doctrine of the Void, _ 
translating the Satyasiddhi Sastra? of Harivarman (of 
whom we know only from Chinese sources), and his 
translation is known to the Chinese as the Khang-shih-lun. 
It is a text of the Sautrantikas, and deals with the nature 
of the self, maintaining that there are two kinds of 
“emptiness” which can be predicated of it. It is empty 
as a basket is empty, it is also unreal or empty as the 
withes or strands of the basket are empty—an illustration 
which cannot be said to add very much to our enlighten- 
ment! But fortunately we are already familiar with this 
idea, that because the self is compound it is unreal, and 
because the elements which make up the self are compound 


' Histoire des Croyances Religieuses et des Opinions Philosophiques en Chine, p. 450. 
9 BING 8294. 


134 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


they too have no reality. Yet the Buddha speaks of the 
“T,” and of the rewards of virtue; if there is no self to be 
rewarded, why persevere in contemplation and self- 
sacrifice? The wise will give up philosophy, and be 
content to leave the dilemma unsolved. So ends the Satya- 
siddhi Sastra, on a note of faith or suspended judgment. 
Not so the great Nagarjuna, whose transcendentalism 
Kumarajiva now proceeded to give to China in the Three 
Sastras, the authoritative scriptures of the San-Lun sect. 

With the coming of this Indian scholar then and the 
rapid multiplication of the scriptures, Chinese Buddhism 
enters upon a complex stage; a catalogue published in 
g18 A.D. mentions over 2,000 volumes, and one two 
centuries later contains 2,278 works in over 7,000 volumes; 
and, as we have noted, the books do not all agree. Can 
they be reconciled? What is the essence of the matter? 
How is it to be made available to ordinary folk? To 
these questions significant answers were given by three 
ereat schools: that of the Indian Bodhidharma in §20,* 
that of Chi-i a little later, and that of the Mantra 
school in the eighth century. They have made Chi- 
nese Buddhism the complex and comprehensive thing 
that it 1s today. 

The first of these schools was introduced, or at least 
popularized, in the neighborhood of Loyang by Bod- 
hidharma, or P’utiTamo, a prince of South India, who was 
the twenty-eighth patriarch of the Sangha. While the 
Chinese lay-pilgrim, Sungytin,? was visiting Udyana and 
Kandahar, Bodhidharma, disgusted perhaps at the course 
of things in his own land, where Buddhism was becoming 


t“QOne account has it that at the beginning of the sixth century the number of 
Indian refuges (sic) in China was more than 6,000.”—A. K. Reischauer. 


? Translations of his Travels into English by S. Beal (1869), into German by Neu- 
mann (1833), into French by Chavannes (1903). 








BODHIDHARMA 
(A portrait of the Zen School) 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 135 


a tantric Hindu cult, came by the sea-route to Ningpo. 
He was a picturesque figure, and has laid a strong hold 
upon the Chinese mind, influencing such original thinkers 
as Tsung Mi (eighth century) and Wang Yang Ming 
(1472-1529). His swarthy, bearded face, staring eyes, 
and gnarled limbs are a popular motive in Japanese art, 
from the kakemono of temple and teahouse to the sword- 
hilt of the Samurai; and he is still the beau ideal, if the 
paradox be allowed, of every monk in China! In Korea 
I felt that I was really making progress when I was 
greeted as a ““Tamo” from the West! 

A Japanese disciple says of Tamo: 

He was, however, not a missionary to be favourably received by 
the public... . entirely different in every point from a popular 
missionary of our age. The latter would smile or try to smile at every 
face he happened to see, and would talk sociably: the former would not 
smile at any face, but would stare at it with huge glaring eyes that 
pierced to the innermost soul. The latter would keep himself scrupu- 
lously clean, shaving, combing, brushing, polishing, oiling, perfuming; 
whilst the former would be entirely indifferent as to his apparel, being 
always clothed in a faded yellow robe. The latter would compose 
his sermons with great care, making use of rhetorical art, and speak 
with force and elegance, while the former would sit silent as a bear, 
and kick off any who approached him with idle questions. 


We might perhaps more fitly contrast Tamo with Co- 
lumba, his great contemporary in the Far West, “from 
whose gentle nest at Iona the doves of peace and good will 
were soon to wing their flight to all regions,”’ or, indeed, 
with the gentle Punna and Mahinda and other pioneers 
of the Sangha. 

Yet Tamo was not less devoted, and his influence to 
this day is in many ways unique. His Master, Gotama, 
embracing poverty, writing no book and trusting in no 


1K. Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai, pp. 5-6. 


136 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


organization, has won the enthusiastic admiration of man- 
kind; Tamo without speaking, except to be rude, has laid 
a strange spell upon the East. It captured first the 
Emperor Wu-ti at his capital K’ien-K’ang. Receiving 
the strange traveler with courtesy, he began to tell of the 
service he had rendered to the Faith: “We have built 
temples, multiplied the Scriptures, encouraged many to 
join the Order: is there not much merit in all this?” 
“None,” was the blunt reply. “But what say the Holy 
Books—do they not promise rewards for such deeds ?” 
“Allis void. There is nothing holy.” “‘But—you your- 
self—are you not one of the holy ones?” “I don’t 
know.” “Who then are you?” “I don’t know.” 

“The elephant can hardly keep company with rabbits,” 
says Mr. Nukariya. And indeed the books are full of 
exhortation to the wise to wander lonely as the elephant, 
and Tamo was of the Arhat rather than the Bodhisattva 
type; but the Emperor Wu-ti was no rabbit,* and there 
is surely more than mere rudeness in Tamo’s reply. First 
he tried to show that merit and truth are within, as Mr. 
Nukariya has so clearly and forcibly argued, then he goes 
on to prepare his pupil for the doctrines of anatta and 
anicca. Unless we are ourselves enlightened, observances 
and the scriptures themselves are of no avail; and the 
first step in enlightenment is to realize the unreality of the 
“ego and of the world.” “To seek aught outside thine 
own heart and mind ts to grasp the air. Prayers, alms, 
learning, zeal, what good are they? All are unreal.” 

That this is the meaning of Tamo’s reply to the emperor 
seems clear from another very popular story of him. A 
Confucian inquirer? came to him, and stood silent before 


t Already a staunch Buddhist he later persisted in taking the vows of a monk. 


* Shang Kwang or Eka, who succeeded Tamo as second patriarch in China. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 137 


him; the sage took no notice and so a week went by, until 
the seeker, as his tears dropped frozen on his breast, to 
prove his sincerity drew his sword and cut off an arm. 
“Well, what is it?” “Master, my soul is sore troubled. 
Help me pacity it.” Where is ite “°L cannot find it, 
though I have sought it earnestly for years.” “There, I 
have pacified it for you,” said the sage, and a flash of in- 
tuition revealed to the seeker, faint though he was with loss 
of blood, the truth discovered by Gotama and forgotten by 
the masses of his followers. Tamo came to call them back 
to orthodoxy, and the effect of his teaching, or absence 
of teaching, was profound: “It was the introduction, not 
of the dead Scriptures . . . . but of a living faith; not 
of any theoretical doctrine but of practical enlighten- 
ment, not of the idea of Buddha but of the spirit of 
Sakyamuni.””” 

Yet the Buddhism of Tamo was different indeed from , 
the Buddhism of Gotama, and has been called a kind of | 
Vedanta. It finds a cosmic significance in the Buddha- | 
nature, immanent in all men and things. If there is no 
atman the Atman is Reality itself; it is the sole reality, 
and gives a meaning to the world, and to men an under- 
standing of its true nature. By intuitive rather than dis- 
cursive reason man grasps this truth, and it can only be 
imparted from mind to mind and from heart to heart 
by intuition. So it has come down in unbroken succession 
from Sakyamuni to all the patriarchs, of whom Kasyapa 
was first, Ananda second, Parsva tenth, Asvaghoga 
twelfth, Nagarjuna fourteenth, Vasubandhu twenty-first, 
and Bodhidharma twenty-eighth—to name only those of 
supreme eminence. The school relates the story of 


* Nukariya, op. cit., p. 5. Yet the Chan school bases itself on the Prajfapa- 
ramita books and makes much of the Lankdvatara Sitra, which emphasizes the inner 


light. 


138 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Kasyapa’s appointment: Master and disciples were 
seated on the Vulture Peak, when the god Brahma drew . 
near and offered a flower to the Blessed One, requesting 
him to preach the Law. He kept silence, and while all 
looked expectant, Kasyapa alone smiled in understanding. 
Are not the greatest things ineffable? So began an 
apostolic succession of which every name is treasured in 
a school that lays little stress on the scriptures, and there- 
fore must vindicate the authority of its verbal teachings. 
That of Tamo is accepted by all, and from his day the 
patriarchate descended to his Chinese followers. 

A discourse purporting to be that of Tamo at the court 
of Wu-ti has been translated into French by Father 
Wieger,” and though it is most unlikely that he ever 
delivered so full and rounded an exposition of his doctrine, 
and quite doubtful if he knew Chinese, it is worth study 
as a summary of the Dhyana teaching. It says: 

The heart is Buddha. Outside of it there is no reality. Apart 
from thought all is unreal. There is neither cause nor effect apart from 
the mind and heart. Nirvana itself is a state of heart. See in thyself 
the true Buddha-nature, know that thou art Buddha, and canst not 
sin. There is neither good nor bad, but only the heart, and this is 
Buddha and impeccable. ... . One sin only is there, to ignore thine 
own Buddhahood..... This ignorance it is which makes the wheel 
of transmigration to rotate: it is enlightenment which destroys the 
power of Karma. The enlightened can neither sin nor be reborn. 
O heart of man, so great that thou canst embrace the world, so little 
that thou canst not be touched by a needle’s point—thou art Buddha. 
That is my word to China. 


It might be Vivekananda or any other Vedantist 
speaking, and it is possible to hold with Father Wieger 
that Tamo was asked to leave by the Buddhists of South 


* Tamo Hsu Molun, op. cit., p. §20. It is not known, I am told by Mr. R. F. 
Johnston, to most Chinese scholars, though it is included in a supplement to the 
Chinese Tripitaka. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, T’IEN T’AI 139 


India; but those who could digest the tantric vagaries of 
a few decades later were not squeamish, and this Dhyana 
teaching accords well enough with Mahayana pantheism, 
on the one hand, and with the mysticism of the Founder, 
on the other, while the emphasis on enlightenment and of 
contemplation, as the way to it, is a clarion call to the 
pietist to “‘leave this chanting and singing and telling of 
beads,” and to return to the rock from which he was hewn. 
The odious teaching, however, that good and evil are , 
alike, is not Sakyamuni’s, nor is it probable that Tamo | 
pressed his pantheism to this conclusion. His followers, | 
even where they have held this strange view, have done 
much to ennoble Chinese and Japanese life by attuning | 
the mind to Nature in her loveliest moods, and have blent ‘ 
the quietism of India with the poetic intuitionism of | 
Southern China, until a Japanese authority can say with 
conviction: “There is hardly a form of thought or a duty | 
that Zen has not touched and inspired with its ideal of 
simple beauty.”’* In the first place, by its pantheism, , ) 
which finds the Buddha-nature in all things, it brought °/ 

religion into all life: 
The golden light upon the sunkist peaks, 


The water murmuring in the pebbly creeks, 
Are Buddha. In the stillness, hark, he speaks! 


This poetic quietism has laid its spell for more than two 
thousand years upon world-weary men and women; 
seeking the mountain-tops they have since the time of the 
Founder possessed their souls amid the beauties of Nature. 
But the Dhyana school has appealed also to soldier and 
statesman in the midst of strenuous days. What has been 
its secret? In the first place, it has developed a joy in 


™M. Anesaki, Buddhist Art, p. 54. Zen is the Japanese form of Chan; both= 
dhyana. 


140 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


simple things, and has helped them to retreat, for a time 
at least, into a quiet kingdom of the mind, and to be free 
from life’s trammels: 
Unanchored, riding free 
On the still clear waters, see 
In the calm cool air of night 
Doth float 
A tiny boat, 
All bathed in silver light. 


Here, as it were in a cameo, ts crystallized the coolness of 
the enlightened mind, calm and serene; like the moonlight 
beautifying all it touches; free as the little boat that 
rides unanchored on the waves. 

Here was a genuine religious experience, an intuition 
of the unity of all things and often of the presence of the 
Buddha. There are many stories of sages of this school 
converted or enlightened by the croaking of a frog in the 
silence, the ripple of a stream, or the fall of autumn 
leaves. In all these the Buddha-nature is immanent: 

A score of years I looked for Light; 
Passed many a Spring and Fall; 


But since the peach-bloom came in sight 
I nothing doubt at all. 


We find blending in these lovers of Nature something 
of the delicacy of the blossom and the ruggedness of the 
mountain. With poetical insight went a Spartan simpli- 
city and an ascetic rigor of life, and in their hymns there 
is nothing of the somewhat effeminate pietism of the 
Amitabha schools. They are thinkers imbued with an 
idealism which transfigures Nature, and to them images 
and scriptures are alike unnecessary; Nature is at once 
their scripture and the embodiment of their God. We 
read, in fact, of sages of this school warming themselves 


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LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 141 


at a fire made of a wooden image of Buddha, or giving 
away the halo of a golden one to feed the poor. 


I have a Buddha image, aye 
Though people see it not! 

Not made of cloth or clay, 
Nor carved in wood, I wot. 

Tis not by artist drawn, 
No thief it steals; 

One from Time’s very dawn 
Itself reveals 

In myriad form 


This Buddha norm.! 


From their quietism too and counteracting the danger of 
their pantheism, they drew moral inspiration, for they 
read Nature in the light of Buddha’s teaching. 


Ye who seek for purity and peace go to Nature. She will give you 
more than ye ask. Ye who long for strength and perseverance go to 
Nature. She will train and strengthen you. Ye who aspire after 
an ideal go to Nature. She will help you in its realization. Ye who 
yearn after enlightenment go to Nature. She will never fail to grant 
your request.? 


For man and Nature are alike filled with the same ' 


universal spirit: “Unchanging and pure, eternally bright 
and clear is the Tathagatagarbha,” says Tsung Mi of 
Kwei Féng. 

To be in unity with Nature is to be in tune with Eternal 
Truth. Why, then, are so many folk foolish and perverse ? 
They are like the drunkard who ignores the precious gems 
which he has in his own pocket. Drunk with egoism, they 
forget the true nature of the “‘ego,” which is Buddhahood: 


Within me dwells my “self”; 
Yet ere this little “I”? awoke, 
Came the free Buddha-self 
And dwelt within. 


t From the Zen-gaku-ho-ten: “Religion of the Samurai,” p. 93. 
2K. Nukariya, op. cit., p. 74. 3 From an anonymous Japanese poem. 


_ 


142 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


They are like the prodigal son of the “Lotus,” who deserts 
his own rich heritage and goes to dwell in a far country; 
but at any moment they may “‘come to themselves,” to 
find a larger self than they had dreamed of, “‘the eternal 
Buddha-mind, which makes them one with nature and 
mankind.” 

The school is neither absolutely idealistic nor absolutely 
nihilistic. For if the mind be unreal, who is it who knows 
that the world of phenomena is unreal? And if they be 
unreal what causes them to appear? 

We are witnesses that there is no one of the fleeting and unreal 
things of earth but is made to appear by something real. If there be 
no real ocean, how can there be the transient and unreal waves? 
If there.be no real mirror, how can there be images unreal and transient 
reflected in it? If the dream be unreal, does it not at least imply a 
dreamer !* 

So argues this school against the nithilists. 

The Chan school, in fact, teaches a pantheistic realism, 
and on this basis builds its systematic mind-training. 
By careful practice the mind may be purified alike from 
destruction and from lust and egoism, and in this lies the 
secret of bodily as well as mental health. Being asked 
the secret of his own amazing vitality at the.age of one 
hundred, an eighteenth-century master of this school 
replied: “Keep your mind and body pure for fourteen 
days, and I will tell you the secret.” This injunction he 
repeated until he felt that the time had come to whisper 
in the inquirer’s ear: “That is the secret. Keep free 
from passion. Keep that rule even at the cost of life.” 

There is something whimsical in the school, derived 
no doubt from the quaint figure and methods of Tamo 
himself, which has endeared it especially to the Japanese, 


t Yuen Fan Lun, or Gen-Nin-Ron, of Kwei-Féng Tsung Mi, refuting the nihilism 
of the Madhyamika Sastra. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, T’IEN T’AI 143 


who never weary of stories illustrating the unorthodox 
manners of the Zen masters; they test the spiritual 
progress of their pupils by a sudden blow or an insult, 
and the sincerity of an inquirer by some gross bit of rude- 
ness. Samurai, gathered about the camp fire, would 
love to tell of Tokiyori, who, having invited a Zen master 
to visit him, and having welcomed him with charming 
courtesy and an elegant poem, received in reply only a 
stunning blow; yet, equal to the occasion, replied with a 
smile: “‘Your blessing, O Master, makes my whole 
body thrill and tingle with joy!” And as they prepared 
to die on the field of battle, they would compose terse 
and charming poems which often express with a simple 
elegance the ideals of Zen. Of this tradition the latest and 
most notable exponent is the late General Nogi, who met 
the news of the death of his two sons with calm resigna- 
tion, and immediately composed a poem in their honor; 
and who not long afterward sought his own death with 
the same stoical detachment. 

Of the more intricate things of the mind-culture of | 
this school it must suffice to note the system of Ko-ans 
which are its unique feature: dark sayings or paradoxes, 
by which the mind, puzzled at first, learns to desert the 
ordinary processes of thought, to acquire a new point of 
view, and to develop its powers of intuition.’ In an 
exquisite room in the midst of a peaceful courtyard where 
no sound entered except the murmur of the brook, I 
consulted a Zen abbot as to how one might set about 
practicing the mind-culture of the school. “‘No one can 
help you,” was his reply, ““You must find enlightenment 
yourself.” This is, of course, the answer I expected. 
The Mystic cannot explain. As a Chinese textbook of the 


t The answer to these Ko-ans must be given in a word, which adds to their difficulty. 


144 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


school says: “Only he who has tasted salt knows what 
salt tastes like. If you want to know, taste! .... There 
is a teaching which cannot be taught.” .. . . As Lao-tze 
used to teach, ‘““The Tao that can be tao-ed is not the 
true Tao.” And not unlike this phase of Buddhist mysti- 
cism is the great saying of a Christian contemporary of 
Tamo: “By love He may be gotten; by thought of 
understanding, never.” But the abbot went on to give 
me one of the first of the Ko-ans: “Listen,” he said, “for 
the sound of a single hand”’;? and when I smiled, “You 
had better go,” he said, “‘to one of the simpler and more 
popular sects.” I felt, be it confessed, that the abbot 
was true to type, and entered into the feelings of many 
an inquirer who has received a shrewd blow in return for 
his importunity. 

Another such elementary Ko-an is the question, “What 
is your original face, even before you were born?” and 
like all such questions it aims at “laying the axe to the 
root of our everyday experience in order to build up a 
new order of things on the basis of Zen,” as D. T. Suzuki 
expresses it. Other Ko-ans are in the form of anecdotes 
of Zen masters, whose replies to inquirers are unintelligible 
to the ordinary mind. In answer to the question, “Why 
did Tamo leave India and come to China ?” the Master 
Joshu (778-897) replied, “The cypress tree in the court- 
yard,” which served also as his statement of the ultimate 
principle in Buddhism! When asked “Has the dog 
Buddha-nature ?” ‘‘Non-existent,” was his answer. 
Similarly, Tungshan (806-69) being asked, ‘‘Who is the 
Buddha ?” answered, ‘‘A pound of flax.” If we attempt 


tThis famous Ko-an is attributed to Hakuin (1685-1768). When it has been 
mastered it is followed by another: “Hark to the sound of a single hand on Mount 
Fujiyama”; and a third: “If you are dead and without form, produce the sound of a 
single hand.” 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI 145 


to rationalize these statements, we receive another slap! 
“Under no circumstances,” says Dr. Suzuki, ‘ 
to be confounded with philosophy.” Abandon logic and | 
reasoning, let intuition have free play, all ye who would | 
enter its quiet haunts, for consciousness is clogged with 
the rubbish of our daily life, until the Zen physician has 

given us his drastic purgatives; then only is the subcon- 

scious free to send up its truth. 

Such is the system as practiced in Japan, and though 
Chinese Chan Buddhism has not so fully developed the 
system of Ko-an or Kung-ang, yet its followers are trained 
by these and by Zazen—systematic contemplation and 
reverie, in which while many need to remember the 
word of Sakyamuni, “Torpor is not the same as Aryan 
silence,” yet there are some who soar on the wings of 
intuitive insight to Truth, and to such many miracles are 
attributed. Like Tamo they can walk upon the waves 
and ‘“‘know all mysteries.” 

Tamo then stood for a Buddhism simplified, mysti- 
cal, and austere.* His younger contemporary and pupil, 
Chi-Kai or Chi-1, attempted the more difficult task of 
harmonizing the complex elements, devotional and phil- 
osophical, which Tamo rejected. 

In the province of Chekiang is the beautiful range of 
T’ien-t’ai, and here in the latter part of the sixth century 
Chi-i studied and travailed to bring forth a new and 
comprehensive Buddhism, subordinating philosophy to 
devotion, yet giving it due recognition. He was indeed 
a mighty thinker, whose masterly if arbitrary genius 
brought order out of the chaos of the schools.” 


tIt is noteworthy that his school, while it failed to win the less poetic north, 
established itself firmly in the south of China, where it gave rise to five subsects in the 
eighth century. 


2 For his works see B.N., 1510, and twenty-one others. 


‘ought Zen | 


Y~ 


146 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


As we have seen, their philosophical teachings ranged 
from a naive realism to an absolute nihilism, and it is the 
glory of the T’ien-t’ai school that it reconciled in a Middle 
Path the imperious demands at once of common sense and 
_ of idealistic thought. It is true that the knowledge we 
have is colored by our mind, yet the phenomenal world 
is real, for immanent in it is the tathata, or Absolute. 
Here is a pantheistic realism, in which both relative and 
Absolute are parts of an eternal process, and causally 
related. The relative is at once identical with and differ- 
ent from the Absolute, which is self-dependent. 

Here Chi-i is blending the idealism of “the Awaken- 
ing” and of the Madhyamaka of Nagarjuna, whom he 
regarded as his Master, with the devotional teaching of 
the “Lotus,” that all have inherent in them the Buddha- 
nature. He seized on this identification of the Bodhi 
with cosmic truth, and worked it out as a systematic and 
devotional creed. 

Though the Absolute is unknowable, yet it is attain- 
able in meditation, and is the underlying reality, or 
Dhammata, which alone gives meaning to this empty world. 
The historical Buddha is the embodiment of this universal 
Reality which, though it is eternal, is dependent upon 
them for its realization: “The Truth (tatha) is a mere 
abstraction, a dead name, unless there appears a tathagata 
in concrete human life.’ 

Thus the historical Buddha is the adaptation of the 
Eternal Truth to human needs, and in him is represented 
the trikaya. Chi-i now drew out what is implicit in 
the ‘‘Lotus,” and argued that there is in all men a cor- 
responding triune nature; for each is a “son of man” in 
whom the universal truth is particularized, and in whom 


tM. Anesaki, Nichiren, p. 151. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN TAI 147 


there is a glorified body representing the spiritual influence 
which passes out from him. So too with all sentient 
beings, from demons tormented by their own vices to 
Buddhas who by their virtues lead many to Truth, in 
all is this threefold nature inherent. 

In addition to the ‘Lotus,’ Chi-i makes much of 
the Nirvana Sutra, and of the Prajnaparamita Sastra," 
seeking by an ingenious but quite fanciful division of the 
life of the Founder into five periods to account for their 
diversities of doctrine. It is one thing to hold that there 
was some development of doctrine during the Founder’s 
own lifetime, and quite another to follow the ingenious 
harmonist as he works out his ‘“‘Five Periods,” and it is 
interesting to discover a Japanese higher critic, Tominaga, 
as early as 1744 pointing out the arbitrariness of the 
arrangement. 

The first period was a few weeks after the enlighten- 
ment, when the Buddha was busy instructing gods and a 
limited circle of other celestial beings, who alone could 
understand him. The Avatamsaka Sitra contains these 
teachings and this is the name given to this period.” 

Next came a time of accommodation to human needs, 
which lasted twelve years, during which the Hinayana 
teachings were given. It is known as the Agama period. 

The Vaipulya is a period of eight years, when men had 
grown in the Faith and were ready for the Bodhisattva 
in place of the Arhat ideal. 

Then to reconcile these Mahayana doctrines with 
those of the Agamas, the wise Teacher spent twenty-two 


* Many of the schools select three scriptures from the vast Library of the Mahayana; 
e.g., the T’ien-t’ai chooses these three, the San Lun chooses the three chief works of 
Nagarjuna, the Paradise schools the three Amitabha books. 


2 This Sitra is certainly not milk for babes; it contains, however, valuable meta- 


physical statements of the One who alone is himself undifferentiated, yet dwelling in 
all and working in all to bring them to Nirvana. 


A 
ii 


148 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


years, the Prajfiaparamita period, arguing that there is 
no real gulf between them; they are stages of one journey. 

Lastly, in the fulness of time, when he was seventy-two 
years old, he revealed the sublime truth that all may 
attain Buddhahood. This period lasted eight years and 
its doctrine is to be found in the “Lotus,” and Mahapari- 
nirvana Siitras.* \Nith its completion the Teacher’s work 
was done and he was free to enter Nirvana. 

As to its moral teachings, T’ien-t’ai Buddhism 1s not 
so original. Chi-1 wrote a commentary on the Bod- 
hisattva, and accepted the usual moral system of 
Mahayana, but to the twin foundation-stones of Prajfia, 
wisdom, and Dhyana, meditation, he gave a new connota- 
tion. The true wisdom is to realize that passion is itself 
enlightenment, and that Samsara is itself Nirvana; to 
meditate on this is the fruit of meditation on the “Three 
Truths,” that all is empty and the world unreal, that the 
dharmas of the phenomenal world are real because they 
are a manifestation in time of the Eternal, and that they 
are neither real nor unreal, for being conditioned they are 
real and yet unreal in the sense that their existence is 
empty of real worth and meaning. So by the Middle 
Path Chi-i follows Nagarjuna, only to arrive at the same 
barren paradox of the pantheist that good and evil, trans- 
migration and its end, passion and enlightenment, are 
identical; all are real because all are manifestations of the 
universal life, and only real when so viewed sub specie 
aeternitatis. It is to the credit of Chi-i that he refused 
to take a step which some of his followers took, and to 
go on to obliterate all moral distinctions. Indeed, though 
he did not make sila, morality, fundamental, yet he laid 
great stress upon it. 


*B.N.,113. To bedistinguished from the famous Pali scripture of the same name. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, T’IEN T’AI 149 


As to the method of progress toward enlightenment 
there are six stages: (1) Men are ignorant of the “Three 
Truths”; (2) they know them, but do not meditate upon | 
them; (3) they begin to meditate upon them; (4) they 
attain to insight, but their passions are not subdued; (4) 
they reach a negative illumination by destruction of 
ignorance; (6) they reach full and positive illumination 
by grasping the doctrine of the Middle Path. 

So only are they distinguished from the other dharmas, 
of which Chi-i enumerates three thousand. All contain 
the Buddha-nature; it is only enlightened men of this 
sixth stage who realize it, and claim it for themselves. 
In them only does cosmic truth come to self-conscious- 
ness. But as it is embodied in each it is present in its 
fulness in a single thought, and even a hungry spirit in 
hell has in his every thought the full three thousand 
dharmas of the universe. 

Such is the system of Chi-i, which in its view of the 
Absolute coming after a long process of evolution to self- 
consciousness, anticipates Hegel, and is Saner in maintain- 
ing that it is only enlightened human nature as seen in the 
Buddhas, which can be regarded as the true revelation of 
the Eternal. 

Is this Tathata personal? ‘Such terms,” Chi-1 , 
would answer, “are all relative; words limited by our 
human experience cannot describe the Absolute.” But, 
like Kant, he would distinguish between the practical and 
the pure reason, and leave the devotee free to conceive of 
his Supreme as personal. And the two great scriptures of 
T’ien-t’ai speak in such language: “All living beings are 
my children,” says the “Lotus,” ‘‘I alone can save them.” 
“The love of the Buddha,” says the Nirvana Sutra, “is 
equable towards all. But as a father, though he has 


150 | EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


seven children yearns over one that is sick, so doth the 
Buddha hover about those who are in sin.” 

Just as Gotama taught of a Karma so exact and just 
as to seem like a Providence, so the later schoolmen of 
the Mahayana, themselves not anthropomorphic in their 
thinking of the Eternal, speak of the loving heart, the 
supreme wisdom, and even the eternal fatherhood of the 
Dharmakaya. 

Immanent in the world of things and in the mind of 
man, the Dharmakaya is yet transcendent, greater even 
than the revelation of himself manifested in the Buddhas. 

In 597, as Augustine was setting up the standard of 
the Cross at Canterbury, died Chi-i, mystic philosopher, 
harmonist, may we not say theologian, on his beloved 
mountain, and left about a score of works to carry on his 
teachings. His posthumous name is Chih-che-ta-shih 
“the great wise teacher,’ and his influence has been 
great indeed. His three most important works are a 
commentary on the “Lotus,” an introduction to it, and a 
work on meditation and knowledge.’ | 

An important factor in the building up of the Buddhist 
pantheon was the deliberate attempt of certain Hinduized 
Buddhists to make it available to the masses. Neither 
the intuitionism of Tamo nor the comprehensive and diff- 
cult system of Chi-1 could expect to win the allegiance 
of the many, and there is ample evidence to show that 
they did not seek it; theirs was a monastic Mahayana. 
In this, at any rate, it was true to type. But in South 
India Bodhidharma must have met the degenerate popular 
cult of a Buddhism that was paying the price of compro- 
mise, and by permitting the worship of Hindu deities was 
losing its soul. It may well be for this reason that he 


TB.N., 1534, 1536, 1538. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI ISI 


left his own land and went to China, though some critics 
hold that he was driven out by the orthodox because he 
was himself becoming too much of a Vedantist! 

However this may be, the Yogacara school of Asanga 
seems to have opened the door to other Hindu practices, 
until almost all that distinguishes Buddhism from Saivite 
Hinduism was sacrificed. The men responsible for intro- 
ducing this mongrel cult to China were Subhakara, 
Vajrabodhi, and Amogha, all from Southern India.t_ But 
the way had been paved by the magical practices of 
Taoism, by the teachings of part of the “Lotus”’ itself, 
by a treatise of Asanga translated in the sixth century, 
and negatively by the failure of Confucian ethics and 
Buddhist philosophy to satisfy the religious needs of 
the masses. We must not take too dark a view of this 
Mantra school. It has done much for art, and if its 
pantheism has, on the one hand, lent itself to sensuality, 
it has, on the other, kept alive the sense of a Divine Order 
penetrating and animating the world. It has in it some- 
thing of a cosmotheistic idealism, seeing all things as a 
sacrament. 

Some of the new deities, too, were worthy of a place 
in the devotion of this heart-hungry people. Vairochana, 
for instance, was identified with the Sun, who has long 
held an honored place in the “Naturism” of China; 
and now he begins to compete with Omito FO for the 
presidency among the gods. His miudra (gesture)—the 
fingers of one hand encircling the index finger of the 

t Vajrabodhi came to China in 719, and his nephew, Amoghavajra, in 746. 


2 E.g., chap xxi of the version of Kumarajiva teaches the use of magic spells. 


3 As Dr. Anesaki has shown, this school is noted at once for its “delicate painting 
and vigorous sculpture” (Buddhist Art, p. 36). The art of the Heian period of Japan 
(800-1100 A.D.) is characterized by a unique sense of intimate communion with the 
gods, by a remarkable symbolism, and a marvelous precision. Cf. Okakura, Les Ideaux 
de I’ Orient, pp. 131-33. 


ima: EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


other—typifies the union of the individual with the cosmic 
soul, and the idealistic schools had prepared the Chinese 
mind for this teaching. 


Vairochana, the Cosmic Lord, is not a mere spirit. His body is 
the whole of material existence, and even a grain of dust partakes of 
his spiritual life and owes its existence to him. The whole world is a 
living organism, manifesting its life everywhere and endeavouring to 
attain full self-consciousness in every particle.* 


Another great figure popularized by the Mantra school 
is Bhaisajyaraja, or Yao Shih Fo, the healing Buddha, who, 
like Vairochana, is a dhyani-Buddha revealing hidden 
truth, and familiar to the student of Chinese temples as 
one of the Great Buddhas who are seated upon the high 
altar. Among the titles of Sakyamuni is that of “Phy- 
sician of the Soul,”’ and Yao Shih F6 is worshiped as healer 
of physical as well as spiritual ills; while one of his mani- 
festations, Binzuru, is very popular in Japan, where his 
image in wood sits outside the shrine, and is an undoubted 
source of disease through contagion, for the devotee 
touches Binzuru on the spot which is affected in him- 
self until he becomes a veritable plague-spot. But the 
idea 1s good! 

There are also dhyani-bodhisattvas, such as Vajrapani, 
who symbolizes power, and Titsang (Kshitigarbha),? 
who makes a strong appeal to human needs. He is 
vanquisher of hell, and protector of children—surely a 
noble conception of the divine. Buddhist art delights to 
paint him descending to the underworld, with children 
crowding round to welcome him; and one of the most 


t Anesaki, Buddhist Art, p. 32. Less pleasing deities are Achala (Jap., Fud6), the 
“immovable,” type of wisdom and meditation—a form of Vairochana; and Aizen or 
Kongosatta—a god of love. 


2 “Earth Womb”—a reference, perhaps, to the widespread belief in a Limbo for 
the dead, situated in the womb of Earth. 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN TAI 153 


touching sights in Japan is a Jizo shrine, where parents 
are busy tying the tiny garments of some dead child 
about the images of this strong and tender champion. 
I have a little family shrine in which naked infants are 
playing leap-frog as he comes, and offering their lilies to 
him, and this whimsical note is very characteristic of 
Buddhist art, one of the hallmarks of its genius and 
inspiration. 

Men, and especially women, cannot do without such 
deities or such aspects of the Divine, and the new school 
throve apace; for twelve centuries it has played a great 
part in popularizing Buddhism, and though there is much 
crude superstition in its dharani, or charms, which the 
priests do not pretend to understand, yet this has rather 
added to its success; the people love to be mystified. 
And the government itself in these early days seems to 
have supported the new missionaries, sending Amogha 
back to India to secure more Sanskrit texts and to study 
its elaborate symbolism. He came back after five years, 
armed with new knowledge, and new stock-in-trade. 
Among the rites in use today are masses for the dead, a 
form of baptism based upon the consecration rite of Indian 
kings, incantations against demons, fire-offerings, and 
other bits of ancient Vedic ritual. These met a felt need 
in China, and local color was added in the form of charms 
against mandarins and the brigands who have always 
been a curse to his long-suffering land! To all this was 
added the charm of secrecy. Men told one another in 
whispers that the Day of Milei Fo, Maitri Buddha, was 
at hand, and with it a new era. 

The secrecy of the new movement, however, aroused 
the suspicion of the government until it was proscribed; 
but it flourished the more vigorously, and though today 


154 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


it has been absorbed into the more orthodox Chan school, 
yet it has left its mark on both popular and monastic 
Buddhism, and is represented in the magic and mummery 
of Lama temples so common in Northern China, though 
these have been introduced from Mongolia and Tibet. 

That the Tantric school was strongly entrenched at 
Chang-an in the ninth century is clear, for the Japanese 
scholar, Kukai, after studying there for three years, took 
it back to his native land and there it flourishes, and may 
best be studied on the beautiful mountain Koyasan. In 
these early centuries of its history in China it seems to 
have been free from the phallic symbolism and the priestly 
quackery of its later years, and its adherents led moral 
and even austere lives, and did much to make Buddhism 
a power among the common people. 

Decadent as Chinese Buddhism undoubtedly is in 
many parts of the: country, it has had an immense influence 
upon the civilization of this great people, beautifying it 
and helping to make it the pacific and democratic thing 
itis. Nor are there wanting here as elsewhere signs of a 
real awakening. In the early eighties a literary revival 
in China turned men’s eyes to the Buddhist books, the 
beauty of whose language is still unsurpassed. In 1893 
a lay-Buddhist from Ceylon, another Tamo for bluntness, 
did something to awake the monks of China from their 
torpor, and in the past two decades there has been a 
great activity in building at such places as Ningpo and 
Hangchow, and since the revolution many disillusioned 
men are seeking the quiet monastic retreats of Buddhism, 
as many as a thousand being ordained recently at one 
time in the city of Changchow. The training of these 
ordinands is improving, and there are among them some 
of real piety and devotion. Among laymen too there is 


LOYANG, CHANG-AN, TIEN T’AI ts 


an increasing interest in the philosophy of Buddhism; 
bookstores in the great cities stock from five hundred to 
a thousand different texts and commentaries; and maga- 
zines like The New Buddhism voice the interest of groups 
of the younger men who have reacted against the aggres- 
sion of nominally Christian nations, and the impossible 
theology of some reactionaries in the devoted ranks of 
Christian missions. 

Japanese influence is, moreover, at work, seeking to 
demonstrate the power of Buddhism to become once 
more an international bond between the peoples of Asia. 
In 1918 a Pan-Buddhist movement started in Tokyo, 
provoked a counter-move in the form of a Buddhist 
organization in Peking to combat Japanese influence, and 
the younger politicians look pensively at Buddhism as it 
offers itself as a basis for the new democracy. 

Speaking more generally, there is an earnest endeavor 
being made to clothe Buddhism in modern garments, and 
to adapt it to modern needs, while philosophy clubs and 
popular lectures are making this “new thought”’ available 
to the masses. And on the practical side there are some 
efforts to do what Christian missions have so nobly demon- 
strated to be an essential part of true religion, in the relief 
of famine, in Red Cross work, in prison visitation and care 
for the infirm. Buddhism, in a word, is making one more 
effort to commend itself to the masses of China. 


CHAPTER VII 


KEUM KANGSAN, NARA, HIEISAN, 
KOYASAN 


Buddhism in Korea and fapan (ca. goo A.D.) 


“Buddhism was the teacher under whose instruction the Fapanese 
nation grew up.” —CHAMBERLAIN. 

“Tt is only in Fapan that the historic treasures of Asiatic culture can 
be studied in due order .... Fapan is the museum of this civilization 
of Asia.” —OKAKURA. 

I 

Buddhism entered Korea in the fourth and fifth 
centuries A.D. in several missions, of which at least three 
are famous. In 372 a Chinese monk, Sundo, came to 
Kokurai, the northern kingdom, in response to an 
invitation from its ruler to one of the Chinese kings; 
twelve years later came the “barbarian monk,” Mar- 
ananda, an Indian, from China to the middle kingdom. 
In 424 the black or negro monk Mukocha established 
Buddhism in the southeastern kingdom of Silla. It seems 
clear that Korea welcomed Buddhism as a bond of union 
with China, and she certainly benefited greatly from the 
work of these missionaries. We know that by the middle 
of the sixth century all three kingdoms were strongly 
Buddhist, even sending a mission to Japan, where at 
Nagano one may still see the Amitabha Triad, believed 
to have accompanied the missionaries; and for a thousand 
years the new religion prospered in Korea, helping to 
unite the three kingdoms into one, fostering education 
first by introducing the use of Chinese, and later by 
inventing an excellent and simple alphabet, and filling the 


156 





TWO HEAVENLY KINGS 


Korea) 


h century, 


ixt 


(S 





KEUM KANGSAN 157 


land with temples which may still be studied very much 
in their original form in remote mountain fastnesses. 
It is a delightful experience to follow the trail blazed 
by some of these early missionaries, and to visit the 
glorious mountain range of Keum Kangsan, known to 
Europeans as the Diamond Mountains and to the Jap- 
anese as Kongo San, where nearly fifty monasteries 
survive. 

On the exquisite seashore near On Chung Ni may be 
seen to this day a rock in which the pious imagination sees 
the overturned junk which brought there fifty-three 
missionaries (now called “ Buddhas’), and near by sits 
one of them himself turned to stone! Let us suppose 
that it was in the clear autumn weather after the typhoons 
were safely past that they landed somewhere on this rock- 
strewn shore. Around them sparkled a clear sea, and the 
peaceful valley stretched before them; but beyond towered 
the mountains, and their voice has always called louder 
to the Buddhist monk than that of the sea. Following 
the course of a rocky stream they began to climb and soon 
found themselves in one of the loveliest mountain ranges 
of the world. Their hearts must have leaped for joy as 
they passed now through glades where clear, deep pools 
reflect the autumn foliage of oak and chestnut; now 
through mountain gorges where the serrated battlements 
of gray peaks and the blaze of the maples stab the clear 
blue of the skies. And as they halted for their evening 
meditation their minds must have filled with wonder and 
awe and with a solemn peace, as the rocks flamed in the 
sunset and the great moon sailed into a cloudless sky. 
At last they stopped by babbling waters, and amid these 
spacious glades they built their first small hermitage, 
whose upturned gables and deep, sloping roof were to set 


158 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


the standard for all succeeding ages. There were moments 
when these great waterfalls and deep pools seemed to 
them haunted, as Ruskin would have us believe, by 
demons and dragons, and many an ancient legend tells 
of how by the power of the Good Law they cast them out. 
Soon the towering rocks were crowned with little shrines 
to the merciful Kwanyin and other benign beings; it is 
not hard in these still places to believe that God is love, 
and to worship him under these kindly forms. Moreover, 
monks who train themselves to meditate, and to find a 
unity in all life and the Buddha-nature in the exquisite 
things around them, cannot but develop a symbolic art, 
and soon the temples began to blaze with color within and 
without as they do to this day. 

Here may be seen the old San Sin, or “Spirit of the 
Mountain,” the gods of the Northern Bear, Chil Sun, and 
the Kitchen god,,.as they have been adopted into the Bud- 
dhist pantheon," and side by side with them are the seven 
Buddhas, like flames of a seven-branched candlestick, or 
William Blake’s “Sons of the Morning.” Before them, 
and before Titsang, pilgrim-worshipers bow in inter- 
cession for the souls of the departed, and make offerings 
of food. Here too one may see upon the altars in the 
“Hall of the Great Hero” the trinities: Sakyamuni, 
Vairochana, and Lochana; or Sakyamuni, with Miroku 
and Kwanyin, surrounded by adoring Bodhisattvas 
(Posal) and Arhats (Lohan). Here too are the other 
figures we have met in Chinese temples, and stereotyped 
as is the art of these temple frescoes and images, yet 
they breathe the spirit of devotion, and are, indeed, 


1 Another small shrine contains a figure of the old solitary Toksung, whom some 
identify with Chi-i, of T’ien t’ai, and some with the Arhat Pindola, the Binzuru of Japan 
who was a doctor, but is forbidden to enter the sacred precincts because Bk his abuse of 
miraculous power in ancient times. 








A MOUNTAIN FASTNESS OF THE DHAMMA 


(Diamond Mountains, Korea, with shrine of Kwanyin) 


KEUM KANGSAN 159 


as the monks will tell you, aids to meditation rather 
than “‘idols,” as they are often crudely called. In build- 
ings known as Hannya (the equivalent of the Sanskrit 
prajfia) are found the libraries of the Chinese Tripitaka; 
and these too are little more than aids to meditation. For 
while it is the art of China, and especially of the pietistic 
and tantric schools which has prevailed, it is the spirit 
of the Indian or contemplative schools which survives in 
these Korean monasteries. Here the Hall of the Great 
Hero, Sakyamuni, and the Hall of Meditation are of 
central importance. Korean Buddhism is, in fact, a 
blending like that of China of these three schools, and 
one may find young acolytes studiously getting by heart 
the lists of the patriarchs through whom in an unbroken 
succession the teachings have descended. They will tell 


one how, when Buddhism was becoming too complex, a \ / 


Korean monk, Taigo, went to China and brought back 
the simple and austere Dhyana or Chan teachings, and 
Tamo is a greatly honored name. 

At sunset I was invited to join the monks at their 
silent contemplation; after bowing to the Buddha images, 
they turned from them and sat in silence, meditating for 
two hours or more; after which we sat late into the night 
discussing the teachings of the school; and again long 
before dawn they were at this most difficult of arts. In 
some temples the praises of Amitabha are used as a help. 
In some the Vajra of tantric Buddhism is clasped between 
thumbs and fingers pressed tip to tip, and this too is an 
aid to meditation. For three or four years in the great 
monastic houses of Heian or Pomosa the novice is taught 
the preliminaries, and then follows a four-year course 
upon the great Mahayana books, the “Lotus,” the “ Awak- 
ening of Faith,” the Prajia-Paramita Sitras, the Amitabha 


<—— 
™~ . 


160 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


books,’ and they maintain that these books have been 
since the sixth century their main scriptures. But many, 
in fact the majority, get their training in less formal 
ways; one kindly abbot, sixty-one years of age, told me 
that he had lived in the same monastery since, as a child 
of seven, he was adopted by the monks, and his calm, 
gentle bearing and sweetness of disposition are witness 
that the long years have not been spent in vain. These 
monks for the most part accept the T’ien t’ai classifi- 
cation of the Five Periods, and use some of the secret 
charms, or dharanis, of Tantra, such as the famous 
“Om mani padme hum” (om; the jewel in the Lotus: 
hum!). For into these monastic pools many streams have 
poured, although it is the still, deep waters of Dhyana 
which have drunk them all in. 

Such is Korean Buddhism in its mountain fastnesses, 
clearly a mixed Buddhism of the accommodated 
Mahayana with Sakyamuni as a central figure, with 
meditation as the chief exercise, with the philosophy of 
the Void and the T’1en t’ai classification tacitly assumed, 
and yet with some pietistic tendencies, as is evidenced by 
the place given to the Buddha of the Western Paradise. 
Ignorant the monks often are, and yet most of them will 
tell you that mind alone is real, that there is one universal 
mind; and these are living truths to them. “There is 
one moon in heaven,” said a young monk to me as the 
great harvest-moon climbed over the shoulder of the 
mountain, “but men see it from many sides, and it is 
reflected in a myriad pools. There is one Buddha- 
nature,” he went on, “in mountain, tree and bird’’; 
“‘and in the mind of man,” I added. This idealistic 
philosophy of the monks is akin to that of another moun- 


t Korean Buddhists have printed scores of the chief Buddhist books. 


KEUM KANGSAN 161 


tain lover, whose words remind us in the West how little 
we have developed our sense of the immanence of God. 
Wordsworth would be quite at home in these mountain 
monasteries, for here the Eternal Spirit is a living reality 
to many an earnest soul. 

Of the Buddhism of the lay-people, though it was once 
a great and living faith, as is evidenced by the many stone 
Miryek, images of Maitri Buddha, and by the Buddhist 
names of many villages, it is more difficult to speak with 
enthusiasm. “It is no obstacle in our work,” said the 
saintly bishop of the French mission; yet the bishop of 
the Anglican church in Korea is surely right when he 


finds: 


In that indefinable charm and affectionateness of manner of the 
Korean a witness to the influence of that great Teacher who. . 
laid supreme stress on gentleness and kindness to others, and of whom 
we may say (with that stout old Christian traveller of the Middle 
Ages, Marco Polo): “Si fuisset Christianus, fuisset apud Deum maxime 
sanctus.’ 


And it is easy to underestimate the hold which his religion , 
has upon the Koreans. 


Although the monasteries are in decay and the monks are despised, 
the laity are not lacking within the temple precincts, and they come 
to seek-assistance at the Buddhist shrines in every kind of need. They 
bring offerings; they fill the brass dishes on the altar with rice, cake, 
nuts, apples, and pears; they light candles before the images and 
burn incense; they hire the monks to recite sacred passages to the 
sounds of drums, bells and cymbals; they fling themselves meanwhile 
repeatedly before the altar in prayer, with their foreheads in the dust, 
murmuring softly the words of supplication, of prayer, of sorrow.? 


1 Transactions: R.4.S., Korea Branch, VIII, 40 


2 Hackmann, Buddhism as a Religion, pp. 264-65. The author notes that here as 
elsewhere Buddhists resort also to exorcists (Mudang) and soothsayers (Pansu) women 
and men, respectively, who from these spheres have ousted the Buddhist monk. And as in 
China so in Korea, behind all the Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism of the people 
is a dim background of theism—the worship of the one great god, Hananim, whose 
name like that of Shang Ti has been adopted by the Protestant missionaries for God. 


162 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Today, though for complicity in a plot against the 
throne the monks were for centuries excluded from the 
capital and no temples were to be found within its walls, 
Buddhism has re-entered Seoul, and the Japanese are 
fostering it as a bond of union with the people of the 
land. 

Yet Japanese Buddhism seems to make little protest 
against the high-handed methods of the military and 
police, and Korean Buddhists accept with languid inter- 
est the establishment of a Buddhist headquarters and 
training school, and a fostering of Buddhist propaganda. 
It is, in fact, doubtful whether these methods are not 
tending to drive the Koreans toward Christianity. And 
it is interesting that just across the border Buddhism is 
being preached as the most democratic of religions, while 
here it is relied upon to support a despotic government. 
No one can prophesy the future of religion in these eastern 
countries; but it needs no prophet to see that there is 
being developed a spiritual leadership in the Christian 
church in Korea which will mean much for the future of 
Christianity in the Far East. May it not be in the provi- 
dence of God that a vital eastern Christianity is to be 
developed in Korea, and with it a renaissance of the old 
arts of which Korea is justly proud, and the discovery 
of a real democracy? If so, then, Japan will owe Korea 
even more in the days to come than she did in the period 
we have now to consider. Meantime, a great white 
Buddha image of the eighth century gazes across the 
straits that separate the two lands, as who should say: 
“Much have my Korean disciples done for you. What 
return will you make?” It is, indeed, a great debt which 
Japan owes to Sakyamuni and to Korea. 








HORIUJI 


(Partly built in the seventh century A.D.) 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 163 


I] 


The story of Buddhism in Japan is almost the story 
of her civilization; there is little in her rich treasury of 
art and religion which Buddhism has not inspired and 
molded. From this splendid background there stand out 
certain great and notable epochs and certain great names. 
First and most far-reaching in its achievements is the era 
of Shotoku Taishi* (593-622), a contemporary of 
Muhammad and of Augustine of Canterbury, and like 
them a founder of a new civilization. 

Amid the gentle slopes and stately trees of Nara 
rise ancient shrines, visited by every tourist and honored 
by the Japanese as the cradle of their civilization. A few 
miles away stands a group more venerable still and far 
more interesting—the shrines of Horiuji—perhaps the 
richest storehouse of Buddhist art and architecture in 
all the East. Here in 538 a.p., while Tamo and Chi-i were 
still at work in China, a Korean mission settled and laid 
the foundations of Japanese culture. Bringing a gilt 
image of one of the Buddhas, and copies of some of the 
scriptures, they carried also a personal message from the 
king of their country to the royal house of Japan, pointing 
out the excellences of the Dharma and its far-flung 
influence: was it not the religion of all the great nations? 
“These words,” says Dr. Anesaki, “were a marvelous 
revelation to a people who knew only how to invoke spirits 
supposed to be little superior to men.’” 

The world has marveled at the meteoric progress of 
the Meiji era; that of the Nara epoch was in some respects 
more remarkable, and a visit to Horiuji will reveal some- 


1 For the earlier epoch of Buddhism in Japan see Appendix VI. 
2 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VIII, 703. 


164 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


thing of the incomparable debt which Japan owes to Korea, 
and still more to China, that mother of civilizations. 


It not only marks the birth of Japan as a civilized power, but from 
it we can reconstruct the architecture of China now swept out of 
existence, and only a memory. And its artistic value is no less; small 
as they are, these buildings are almost unequalled in Japan for absolute 
beauty, and they have remained the type from which all the architecture 
of the nation has developed..... The general plan is noble and 
dignified and the grouping and composition consummately delicate. 


Japan was not slow in adapting and making her own 
these rich gifts, and within a century was to a great 
extent a civilized country. Amid her glorious forests 
rose the stately roofs of Chinese and Korean temples, with 
curving gable and soaring pagoda; and within gleamed 
masterpieces of sculpture like the great Kwannon, which 
still speaks at Horitji of tenderness and spiritual repose, 
and haunts one with the mysterious other-worldly charm 
of the great things of religious art. 

Prince Shotoku, himself regarded as an incarnation 
of the Compassionate One, was, indeed, a remarkable 
figure whose authentic likeness, painted by a Korean 
artist, is treasured by the imperial family, and who is 
revered by the craftsmen of the land as their patron saint. 
Like Asoka and Kanishka he saw in Buddhism a wonder- 
ful bond of union for the divided and warring tribes of his 
people; and through its great doctrine of the oneness of 
all life political and racial barriers were overthrown, and 
a united people gathered about him. Proclaiming it the 
state religion in 604, he based a constitution upon it, “for 
without Buddhism there is no way to turn men from 
wrong to right”; and at a port on the Inland Sea he es- 
tablished a great institution, the Shi-Tennoji, or “Shrine 


™R. A. Cram, Impressions of Fapanese Architecture, p. 32. 





FROM SHOTOKU TO NICHIREN 





NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 165 


of the Four Heavenly Guardians,” to demonstrate to his 
people the beneficent power of the new faith, and to prove to 
visitors from neighboring lands that Japan was now one with 
them in the religion of all civilized races! The first thing to 
greet the traveler on landing was this stately group of build- 
ings with their schools of art and music, their hospitals and 
dispensaries clustering about the monastery and central 
shrine. What had the primitive cult to offer in comparison ? 

Nor was the prince content with patronage of his 
adopted faith; he made an earnest and critical study of 
the scriptures, and selected from them three which were 
especially calculated to commend the new faith and to 
help him build up a united kingdom. These scriptures, 
upon which he himself wrote commentaries and gave 
lectures, were the “Lotus of the Good Law” (Myoha 
Renge Kyé or Hokke-kyo),* the Vimala-kirti-nidesa Sutra 
(Yuima-gyo),? and the Srimala Sitra (Shoman-gyo)3 In 
interpreting these scriptures he was a disciple of the 
Jojitsu school, whose chief book is the S4dtya-siddhi- 
Sastra,* translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva in the 
fifth century. It contains, as we saw above, a philosophi- 
cal treatment of the doctrine of “emptiness” and a 
practical application of this doctrine; let the disciple 
meditate upon the unreality of the “ego,” and then 
apply the idea to the casting-out of self-will and the 
cultivation of unselfishness. All is unreal; most unreal 
of all is the illusion of “‘self.” 

But ruling princes are more concerned with applied 
than with theoretical teachings, and though Shéotoku was 
no mean thinker he knew that in the affairs of state a 
little philosophy goes a long way. His selection of books 
for the nation was a stroke of genius; and it would be 

1 B.N., 134. 2 Tbid., 146. 3 [bid., 59. 4 [bid., 1274. 


166 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


hard for the modern scholar to beat it. The Hokke-kyo, 
which is still the most influential and popular of the 
Buddhist books in Japan, teaches a simple and picturesque 
religion, intelligible to the lay-mind; its optimistic note 
and democratic spirit in holding out the promise of salva- 
tion to all make it a book acceptable to ordinary folk, and 
its apocalyptic scenery has proved a great stimulus to 
art. But, above all, the splendid ideal of the Bodhisattva 
which it depicts is a useful reminder that loyalty is only 
attainable at a cost. To this challenge his people have 
made a generous response, and in the present period of 
transition Bodhisattvas are greatly in demand! 

The other two books chosen by Shotoku are sound 
lay-Buddhism, a proof to his subjects that the new religion 
is not merely monastic, but is capable of guiding men to 
good citizenship and even of swaying the throne, though 
“the King is to his subjects as Heaven to Earth.” “‘Hon- 
esty,” says the Yuima-gyd, “is the Paradise of the Bod- 
hisattva.”’ Vimalakirti was a burgess of Vaisali and a 
stout lay-adherent of the Buddha; Srimala of Benares 
was a good wife, a model queen, and a staunch supporter 
of the Sangha. “The King is a father to his people,” 
says the Shoman-gyod. A docile people and a grateful 
ward eagerly drank in these lessons, and for a time all 
went well. Yet we must not overlook the fact that in 
spite of the good example of the prince-regent the religion 
he was trying to secularize is at bottom a religion for 
monks and philosophers, and was being preached by 
missionaries from abroad, who took very different views 
of it, and were representatives of rival schools. “It 
furnished spiritual food for the intellectual and leisured 
classes; but it was not a gospel to the mass of the people.” 


* Harada, Faith of Fapan, p. 94. 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 167 


Japanese Buddhism was in fact at the cross-roads; 
and as no nation is fortunate enough to be governed by a 
succession of Shdtokus, it was left to foreign monks and 
their converts in Japan to decide its fate. In the middle 
of the eighth century, under the great Buddhist Emperor 
Shomu Tennod, a Chinese monk, Kanjin, was appointed 
head of the hierarchy, and an Indian ecclesiastic, Bod- 
hiséna, exerted a great influence. Though they wisely 
encouraged social service, they made no attempt to put 
the scriptures into the vernacular, and tended more and 
more to keep in their own hands the arcana of the religion. 
With a hierarchy monastic in its teaching, exclusive and 
aristocratic in its practice, and still largely foreign in 
its personnel, Buddhism might well have remained an 
alien benefactor. But the genius of the Japanese began 
to assert itself, and Buddhism to make terms with the 
native Shinto. Gyogi, a monk descended from the royal 
house of Korea and a man of great ability, who was a 
social reformer as well as a religious leader, and who acted _ 
as adviser to the Emperor Shomu, was the founder of 
this mixed or Ryobu Shinto. He boldly proclaimed the 
identity of Vairochana with Amaterasu, the ancestress of 
the royal house (both being solar deities), and helped in 
the setting up of the Daibutsu at Nara, a hideous colossus 
which represents Roshana," an emanation of Vairochana, 
and thus published to the nation the new alliance. There 
is less to surprise us in this new move than at first may 
appear; the emperor, like Shotoku and many another, was 
hailed as Avalokitesvara, and Gyogi himself as Mafijusri, 
while the Indian Bodhiséna, who performed the ancient 
rite of “giving life”’ to the image by painting in its eyes, 


* Other famous images of Roshana are the sixth-century rock carvings at Long- 
men near Loyang, and elsewhere. It is only fair to the colossus of Nara to note that 
it has twice been badly defaced by fire. 


168 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


was regarded as Samantabhadra or Fugen. And in later 
days this Bodhisattva is even depicted as a geisha, who 
allures men to goodness by seeming to tempt them to 
merriment! Japanese Buddhism has pushed the principle 
of “accommodated truth” to extreme lengths, and these 
early exponents of this method were philosophers, followers 
of the difficult Zvatamsaka of the Hosso and Kegon schools, 
and must needs give the people something more popular. 
Another great figure of this eighth-century Buddhism in 
Japan was Dosho, who at Chang-an had been a pupil of 
the great Hiuen-Tsiang (known in Japan as Gensho), 
and who returned to Japan in 677. He and Gyogi are 
regarded as the founders of these 4vatamsaka schools in 
Japan; and it would have gone ill with Japanese Bud- 
dhism, in spite of imperial patrons, but that the next cen- 
tury produced two great native leaders, who made Bud- 
dhism indigenous—even though they took it to the 
mountain tops and let it relapse to monasticism. Hence- 
forward, for some centuries, the two mountains, Hieisan 
and Ko6yasan, are the real centers of Buddhism in Japan. 
An eminent Buddhist scholar said to me: 

These two mountains are the two lotuses of Japanese Buddhism: 
Koyasan has been for eleven hundred years a lotus turned upward 
toward the sun and preserving its seeds intact; Hieisan has been for 
the same period a lotus turning itself downwards to the earth, and has 
scattered its seeds in many directions. 


It is a true and picturesque image of these two great 
sacred mountains, and around them we may group our 
further study of Japanese Buddhism. 

Born at a time when Buddhism was becoming too 
powerful in its influence in politics, and the hierarchy, 
divided among themselves, were intriguing also in affairs 
of state, Saich6, like many another earnest soul, had turned 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 169 


away in disgust, and had retired to a mountain side to 
meditate and find peace. In 794 when the government, 
suspicious of the power of the priests of Nara, and for 
other reasons, removed to Miyako, Saich6 was twenty- 
seven years old. Whether or not he had a share in the 
new move his hermitage of En-riaku on Mount Hie1 
began to attract attention, and was destined to become 
the center of a new and inclusive Buddhism. From the 
Chinese sect of T’ien t’ai, he had learned to find in the 
“Lotus” scripture the true Buddhism, and in opposition 
to the Nara schools he began to teach the essential message 
of this book, that all are destined to Buddhahood, and 
that it is not necessary to pass through the stages Sravaka 
and Pratyeka Buddha to become a Bodhisattva; an 
inference quite legitimately drawn from the ideas implicit 
in early Buddhism.’ 

In this democratic teaching was a solution, not only of 
his own spiritual struggles, but of the problem of uniting 
the nation. Buddhism had become aristocratic and exclu- 
sive, and the common people, no less than the court and 
the more earnest of the priests, were ready for the new 
teaching. Once more Buddhism was to do for a great 
people what it had done for the India of Asoka and of 
Kanishka, and for the China of Wu-ti and Fu-kien, and 
what it had already begun to do for Japan in the time of 
Shotoku Taishi. Having worsted the Nara monks in pub- 
lic debate, Saich6 was sent in 804 to China “for a further 
search of truth.” He spent a brief year studying at 
Tien t’ai, and returned to make his beloved Hieisan the 
splendid home of a harmonized Buddhism. For eleven 
hundred years it has been the center of Japanese Tendai; 
and today, like the glorious cryptomerias guarding its 


* See Prefatory Notes. 


170 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ancient shrines, it stands sentinel over a form of the faith 
which is dying if not dead; cemeteries, tombs, temples 
empty of worship are there in melancholy beauty as the 
memorial of a notable venture, which has spent itself. 
Here one may see towering among the trees the Sorintd a 
great bronze column set up by Saicho himself, and symbol- 
izing, with its nine hoops encircling the central shaft, the 
multiplicity in unity of the new school; and possibly also 
the philosophy of Tendai, or pantheistic realism: behind 
and in the many is the One. In front of it stands a 
deserted but splendid shrine to Sakyamuni, for the 
“Lotus” leads back to the historic Founder too often 
forgotten in Japan; and here, half hidden among the 
trees, is an ancient stone image of Kwannon, as who should 
say: “Remember too Amida and his saving grace.” 

Beyond, united by a kind of “Bridge of Sighs,” are 
preaching halls for the “Lotus” and the Amitabha scrip- 
tures, and here for many centuries these were expounded 
side by side. This ancient temple seems to utter a silent 
protest against the sectarian bitterness of today. 

Here then in this group of buildings is epitomized the 
attempt of Saich6 to establish an eclectic yet comprehen- 
sive Buddhism; and a little beyond them again is the 
central shrine, Kompon Chudo, where a lamp lighted by 
him still burns in the dank and mildewed atmosphere, 
barely lighting up the gloom, and half revealing the altar 
with its eight volumes of the “Lotus,” and images of the 
chief deities, Amida, Kwannon, Tai Seishi, Fudo, and 
“the Four Guardians,”* and without, hidden in the great 
archway which stands at the entrance of every Tendai 


t Amida is Amitabha, Kwannon and Tai Seishi are Avolokitesvara and Mahastha- 
maprapta. Fudo is a Hindu deity, Acala, adopted like Vairochana and Amaterasu, the 
sun-gods and Hachiman, god of war, into the pantheon of Buddhism, which like other 
pantheistic religions accommodates itself very easily. The Four Guardians, Shintennd, 
are also Hindu guardians of the four quarters of the universe. 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 171 


temple, is Monju (Mafyusri), the Bodhisattva of wisdom, 
without whose help the elaborate system may not be 
mastered. 

Here, though usually there are no worshipers, one may 
find services of praise to Amida; and more interesting, 
the venerable Homa sacrifice of Vedic India is still being 
performed. Burnt-offerings of cedar wood, oil, rice, and 
tea are made before the ferocious Fud6, and Buddhas 
and Bodhisattvas are summoned to be present, while 
strange miudras, or gestures, accompany every invoca- 
tion. The priest in his scarlet robes may dimly under- 
stand their hidden meaning, but no one else; and as one 
watches one begins to understand why in the days of its 
prosperity Tendai took from fifteen to twenty years to 
train its priests. It is as elaborate in its cult as in its 
tenets, and its eclecticism has not been critical. Today 
boys of fifteen are admitted to the novitiate by a service 
of ordination, the shamikai, taking the ten vows, and at 
the age of twenty are ordained bhikshu, or monk, taking 
the guzokukai, or two hundred and fifty vows. “Do they 
know much about the system?” I asked a learned Bud- 
dhist scholar.t “Not much,” he replied, “but more 
than our famous scholars in the West.” 

But to return to Saichd; smiled on by the govern- 
ment, encouraged by what he had seen in China, inspired 
by the beauties of Hieisan, and by the vision of its slopes 
alive with worshiping multitudes, he moved steadily 
toward the goal. The first step was the planting of a 
school for monks. In this the “Lotus” was the founda- 
tion. The other chief books were also taught; and much 
was made of the books of the discipline and of ethical 


* Mr, B. Petzold, who is at work upon an exhaustive treatise upon Tendai which 
will be eagerly awaited by scholars. 


172 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


teaching, for to the twin pillars of Chinese Tendai Prajfia, 
wisdom, and Dhyana, meditation, Saicho added Sila, 
morality, as equally fundamental. 

To all this sound Buddhism were added mystical con- 
templations, the use of magical gestures and charms, and 
an elaborate ritual containing such ancient rites as the 
Homa sacrifice and the abhisekha, or baptism, which we 
shall study in Shingon, or Japanese Mantra Buddhism. 

The next step was the formation of a kind of third 
order of lay-people; and in spite of grave opposition, 
Saich6 began to ordain monks at the central shrine. 
When he died in 822 he was the acknowledged head of a 
new school of Japanese Buddhism, and founder of a 
church soon to become too powerful, and to overawe the 
throne and the capital; and already his Buddhism con- 
tained at once the germs from which have developed the 
three great schools of Honen, Shinran, and Nichiren, and 
at the same time the seeds of its own disintegration. 
Before very long the innumerable temples of Hiei became 
veritable barracks, and the sound of its great bells the 
signal for a muster of armed monks, some houses putting 
as many as 3,000 into the field. Today, while animal life 
is sacred on Hiei, one cannot walk far along its splendid 
avenues without finding the graves of monks slain in the 
continual feuds between great and powerful rival monas- 
teries.. Moreover, it became gradually clear that Saicha, 
or Dengyd, as he was now called, had attempted the 
impossible; like his master, Chi-i, he had mixed water 
and oil in a temporary emulsion, and they were bound to 
separate. 

It is strange that ere this took place four hundred 
years went by, a time of great unrest and of intrigues both 


*In the twelfth century Yoritomo had to forbid monks to carry arms. 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 173 


political and ecclesiastical, and yet a time of steady devo- 
tion to the ideals of the monastic life, and of the arts of 
which Japan is so justly proud. We may picture lonely 
souls taking refuge from the hopeless corruption of the 
hierarchy and the degeneracy of the court among the 
quiet glades of Hiei. Such was the half-witted royal 
monk, Kuya, who is said to have danced through the land 
in the tenth century, reciting the praises of Amida, and 
calling men to follow a simple, emotional faith. Such 
was the learned artist, Genshin (942-1017), who wrote a 
treatise on the vow of Amida and the communion of 
saints in his Paradise, and Ryonin (1072-1132), who 
organized an Amida Society to work and pray—the 
Yudzua Nembutsu. Such pre-eminently was Genku, or 
Honen (1133-1212), the prophet of Amida, who in the 
twelfth century broke away from Hiei, where he had spent 
thirty years of meditation and study, and where at last 
the truth of Amida’s saving grace, as taught by Genshin 
and Ryonin, had seized and possessed him. With him 
ends the Kyoto period, and begins that of Kamakura. 
Satiated with rich food, “‘the honey of Shingon, the rich 
butter of Tendai,” he was hungry, he tells us, for the daily 
rice. ‘This all need, and even weak stomachs can digest! 
We may imagine him in his exquisite hermitage of Kuro- 
dani, where the glory of the maple blazes against a great 
wall of cypress; here he would sit gazing at the setting sun, 
meditating on Amida and his Pure Land, or repeating the 
glowing passages of the Sukhdavati Vyitha, until the vision 
of the god flooded his being with joy and conviction. 
Here at last was truth and reality. Like the vision of 
our Lady Poverty to his contemporary, Francis, this 
experience of a living Amida spurred Honen to the task 
of awakening his people. 


174 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


The present incumbent of the shrine will tell you the 
exact measurements of Amida, the color of his eyes, the 
marks on his body (identical with those of Sakyamuni), 
and may even carve for you a beautiful image of the 
gracious and compassionate Being whose praises Honen 
repeated in ecstasy innumerable times each day—praises 
which are heard today on every side in Japan. In that 
dark age of decadence and corruption, how restful to 
contemplate the ordered beauty of that Land of Bliss, 
where the Eternal King rules in righteousness. Such is 
Amida Nyorai. Great pictures of him descending on the 
clouds delight the eyes of "the dying Buddhist. Radiant 
light pours from him to all quarters of the universe, and 
about him, like stars around a central sun, stand the 
Bodhisattvas of whom Kwannon and Tai Seishi, embodi- 
ments of his love and might, stoop to welcome the passing 
soul into his paradise. ““Namu Amida Butsu’* is at 
once the prayer, the creed, and the hymn of the Pure Land 
sects, and it is expanded into a splendid hymnology; for 
the bulk of Japanese Buddhists are glad to escape from 
the “path of the sages” to “the path of bliss,” from 
Jiriki to Tariki, from self-reliance to self-surrender. This 
doctrine we have already studied; here it must suffice 
to note that it was Honen, the Buddhist Francis or | 
Wesley, who made it real and vital in Japan, and who in his 
“Selection,” published in 1175, claims boldly that the only 
way open to allis the gateway to the Landof Bliss. Though 
this book was publicly burned, yet his teaching fell on soil 
ploughed up, and ready to receive it, and the presence 
of Amida became a living and precious reality to many.? 


I Sometimes shortened to Nembutsu. 


2 Famous disciples of Hénen were Saigyo, poet, warrior, and knight-errant, and 
Kumagai, who having slain a young Samurai in battle put the sword from him forever 
and became a mon 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 175 


Its fruits are manifest not only in the art which it has 
inspired but in saintly lives like that of Hdnen, some of 
whose hymns have come down to us: 


The haze of morning veils the light of day, 

Or grudging filters some faint golden ray; 

But lo! behind the shrouding veil of mist 

The whole world by the Sun himself is kissed.? 


This, of course, refers to the pervading love of Amida, 
which is there whether men respond to it or not. It was 
the nerve of his own belief; and when at the age of 
seventy-four he was sent into. exile, he rejoiced that he 
might take the good news to far-off villagers. As he lay 
dying he comforted his followers with these words: 


What though these fragile bodies melt away 
Like dew when Death has laid us low, 
Our souls abide and in a gladder day 
Meet in the lotus-bed where now they grow.... 
On every side His beams the worlds pervade, 
' His grace forsakes not one who calls for aid. 


Here then, is a Buddhism which has entirely passed away 
from the rigid system of Karma and the vague allure- 
ments of Nirvana, and which offers to men a religion of 
grace and a heaven of personal immortality of which the 
central joy is the beatific vision of a divine Buddha. Is 
he a personal God? The Buddhist scholar replies: 

No, yet truth accommodates itself; there is an absolute truth 
(Shintai) and an apparent truth (Zokutai) about the Buddha; and 
to the vulgar herd he is more real than a philosophical abstraction, 


more personal than the Dhamma, nearer and dearer than Sakyamuni. 
Let them worship a personal Amida. 


To Dr. M. Anesaki I am indebted not only for permission to versify some of his 
translations included in this chapter, but for much of the information contained in it. 
His Quelques pages de V’ histoire religieuse du Fapan he gave me in manuscript when I 
first visited Japan. 


176 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


It is a religion for simple people, and yet, like other schools 
of Buddhism, it has its systematized philosophy, and 
teaches that there are four kinds of mind training, and 
three modes of thought. Yet all these are implicit in 
faith in Amida; the three kinds of thought are: profound 
reflection on the Buddha; sincere disgust with this 
present life, with earnest aspiration after the Land of 
Bliss; and the liberal resolve to dedicate all to the good 
cause. The four methods of training the mind are: 
instruction in and practice of faith; veneration for the 
three Jewels, and the exclusive utterance of the name of 
Amida. Honen ignored the “One Thought” doctrine 
of Tendai, that, as we are one with Buddha, we have only 
once to think of him and his grace to secure salvation; 
and even the teaching of the smaller Sukhdavati Vyiha, 
that it 1s necessary to keep the name of Amida for seven 
days, or at least for one, in mind. He introduced, indeed, 
a “‘vain repetition” of the name of Amida, which was later 
to arouse the wrath of Nichiren; and this was in itself a 
remnant of the doctrine of merit which Buddhism, like 
Christianity, is tending more and more to reject. 

It was left for Shinran (1173-1262) to take this final 
step, and to teach that no merit of ours is necessary, not 
even a parrot-cry, but only gratitude for the salvation 
which has already been accomplished. No wonder that 
the early Roman Catholic missionaries in Japan described 
Shin Shu as a kind of Lutheranism. Like Luther, Shinran 
cast away the last remnants of the “trashy doctrine” of 
merit, and like Wesley, he was an evangelist and a great 
hymn-writer, whose spirit may best be studied in the four 
hundred Wasan attributed to him; they are the equivalent 
of the Gathas of India, and are best appreciated when 
placed in their proper setting. The great Hondo, or hall, 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 177 


of a Buddhist temple in Japan is a thing of exquisite 
beauty; the light falls through lattices and from old altar 
lamps upon the faces of devout worshipers, wistful and 
pathetic as their minds turn from present sorrow to future 
joy. Outside the children play in the sunny courtyard; for 
youth, except in the modern Sunday schools of this sect, 
is more concerned with the present than the future, and 
has not yet learned the meaning of the other-worldly 
joys that are within. But for parents and grandparents 
the influence of the chanting, the deep notes of gongs, the 
dim lights, the burnished old gold of screen and altar, 
colossal images, dimly seen through clouds of incense— 
all this has an almost hypnotic influence, and those who 
do not think too much are borne along on a tide of feeling 
and aesthetic pleasure. 

The central shrine is occupied throughout the temples 
of the Shin sect by the figure of Shinran himself, and to the 
left Amida, Honen, and Shotoku, the great layman, who 
typifies to the Shin Shu the fact that religion is for all, 
and who is, indeed, the founder of Japanese Buddhism. 
To the left of them are six other patriarchs: Nagarjuna 
and Vasubandhu, Indians; Donran, Doshaku, and Shantao 
(Zendo), Chinese; and Genku, a Japanese. Before the 
central shrine is an altar with lights and incense, and a 
priest is seated facing them. Behind him are the heredi- 
tary abbot in purple and scarlet, and next him his son, 
a boy of seventeen, already proudly conscious of his 
destiny as the next head of the great hierarchy. Behind 
them again are the choir in robes of old gold, and the 
priests in black. “Namu Amida Butsu,’* the praises of 
Amida, alternate with Wasan, or hymns, the first line 


1 These and other meritorious words and deeds are like “good works after justifica- 
tion” —effect not cause. 


178 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


intoned by one voice, far away and solemn, and the three 
remaining lines of each stanza taken up by choir, priest, 
and people. To a kind of Gregorian chant are sung such 
words as these: 


Eternal Life, Eternal Light! 

Hail to Thee, Wisdom infinite, 

Hail to Thee, mercy shining clear, 
And limitless as is the air. 

Thou givest sight unto the blind, 
Thou sheddest mercy on mankind, 
Hail, gladdening Light, 

Hail, Generous Might, 

Whose peace is round us like the sea, 
And bathes us in infinity.’ 


Or it may be some patriarch who is being hymned, such 
as Honen himself: 


What though great teachers led the way— 
Genshin and Zendo of Cathay— 

Did Honen not the truth declare 

How should we far-off sinners fare 

In this degenerate, evil day? 


Occasionally a hymn, like the excellent preaching of some 
of the priests, strikes a note of moral living whose motive 
is gratitude to Amida: 


Eternal Father, on whose breast 
We sinful children find our rest, 
Thy mind in us is perfected 

When on all men Thy love we shed; 
So we in faith repeat Thy praise 
And gratefully live out our days. 


* For permission to versify his prose renderings of some of these Wasan, I am much 
indebted to the Reverend S. Yamabe, of Higachi Hongwanji. He has lately published 
the entire collection (“Wisdom of the East,” Buddhist Psalms). With this hymn we 
may compare that of the Christian church beginning: 

“Thou Grace Divine, encircling all 
A soundless, shoreless sea... . 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN | 179 


The Japanese, in whom gratitude is a very strong motive, 
find in the teachings of Shinran a Buddhism which is 
very Christian, and the words attributed to him, as he 
was nearing his journey’s end, are a confession of sin which 
is worthy of a saint: 


What though in faith my way I wend 
To that Pure Land of Thine, 
With all my flesh doth falsehood blend, 
And in my soul no spark of truth 
No wholesome light doth shine. 
Too strong, too strong earth’s clinging mesh, 
My soul entangled lies; 
My very deeds of righteousness 
Cry falsehood to the skies! 
And passion as a serpent’s tooth 
Gnaws this poor heart of mine. 


What though my spirit steeped in shame, 
Unmerciful and fickle be, 

Yet by the virtue of his Name 

And trusting in his Ark of love 
I cross the waves of misery. 

All impotent as is my might, 
My heart though cold and dead, 

Yet by his Grace, his saving light 
Through me on darkened souls is shed, 

Enkindled from above. 


It might be Luther or Wesley speaking; is it not the God 
of both speaking through this Buddhist saint ? 
_ The Shin Shu is a sect in which a great revival seems 
to be at work. Upward of 800 young priests are being 
trained in its two universities in Kyoto, and it claims 
150,000 children in its Sunday schools, while it is teaching 
parents that religion is a matter of the home, and has 
broken away from the monasticism which for 1,700 years 
insisted upon celibacy as the higher life. 


180 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


A modern disciple of Shinran thus sums up his creed: 


1. Know thyself as thou art; it is worse than nothing. 

2. Put absolute faith in the vows of Buddha Amida; it is every- 
thing and more. 

3. Make joyous gratitude thy sole motive of conduct in life. 

4. After being united with Buddha in the pure land, thou shalt 
be among us again to devote thy life to the work of Buddha to the end 
of the world.? 


“Tt goes without saying,” writes a modern handbook; 
“that this True Sect of the Pure Land is the doctrine 
preached by the world-honored Sakyamuni Buddha him- 
self,” and heterodox as its doctrines undoubtedly are, the 
Shin Shu yet embodies much of the spirit of the Founder. 
He taught that the righteous are saved by their own merit, 
yet his mission was also to sinners, and a famous epigram 
of Shin Shu proclaims: “Even the righteous are saved by 
faith; how much more the sinning soul.”” 

The Western scholar may rub his eyes and protest that 
this is not Buddhism at all, but the Buddhist courteously 
replies that all living religion manifests itself through 
growth, and that the law of evolution is still at work. 
It is certainly true that the story of Buddhism must be 
read backward as well as forward if it is to be understood. 
If Honen and Shinran called themselves Buddhists we 
shall do well to leave it so. Yet critics of their systems 
as pernicious heresy are not wanting within the ranks of 
Buddhism, even of the Mahayana. One such we have to 
study now, a very different figure from the pietist Honen 
and the evangelist Shinran. Nichiren (1222-82) was a 
younger contemporary of the latter; trained like both on 
Hieisan, he also studied Shingon there, and his system 

* The Essence of Japanese Buddhism. 


2 Tannisho. 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 181 


is best understood as a development and a revolt from 
both Tendai and Shingon Buddhism. Born of fisher- 
folk among the virile peasants of Eastern Japan, he came 
like a strong sea breeze athwart the effeminate vaporings 
of thirteenth-century Japan, when Daimyo and priest 
alike were bathed in sickly sentiment, for the new pietism 
had quickly degenerated. While again the Pure Land 
teachers were turning men’s eyes to a life beyond the 
present corruption and civil strife, Nichiren began to 
preach a religion directly concerned with the affairs of the 
nation, and with the everyday life of the people.* Like 
Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa, he saw with clear eyes 
through the prevailing religiosity, and insisted that 
repentance and righteousness alone could save the nation. 
This gospel he found embodied neither in the elaborate 
synthesis of Tendai nor in the mysteries of Shingon nor 
in the simple fervor of Jodo Shu and Shin Shu; Shinran 
seemed to him to have wandered far from the teachings 
of Shaka, and to be leading men to hell, and Kobo Daishi 
he branded as a “‘first-rate liar.” After long searching, he 
had convinced himself that the “Lotus” contained the 
true essence of religion, but that it needed reinterpreting 
to meet the needs of the new age. Today upon the 
Japanese stage one may see enacted the dramatic contest 
between this rugged prophet with his new formula: 
“Namu myohorenge-kyo, praise to the Lotus of the 
Truth,” in his fierce struggle with the Pure Land sects. 
And today his disciples, vigorous and quarrelsome, carry 
on the tradition of pungency and aggressiveness, while 
the cynical layman looks on, and tells the story of the 
Jodo priest who got so drunk that he repeated in his 


1 His earliest work is a semi-prophetic semi-political tract in which he announces 
impending invasion—1260 A.D. 


182 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


cups the ‘“‘Lotus” formula in place of that of the “Pure 
Land.” 

Arbitrary and exclusive in his demands, and critical 
of other heretics, Nichiren formulated his own quite 
fanciful interpretation. of the scriptures. In the title of 
the book he claimed that the truth was fully embodied, and 
that as the worshiper repeated the mystic words he was 
identifying himself with the cosmic soul. Disgusted at 
finding the village children playing with the image of 
Sakyamuni, lately discarded in the new enthusiasm for 
Amida, he claimed to go back to the Founder himself— 
“No man can serve two masters’’—yet he accepted the 
pantheistic realism of Tendai, and like Shingon found in 
union with the cosmic soul the true essence of Buddhism. 
At the same time he insisted that the Buddha is a personal 
Providence, and that natural catastrophes and threatened 
invasions are due to the withdrawal of his protection from 
faithless people and hypocritical priests. Like Isaiah, 
he announced impending doom: ‘‘ Woe unto you who have 
forsaken the true teachings, and are fettered with false 
beliefs. Turn, ye men of little faith, and put your trust 
in the unique truth of the way of righteousness. Awake, 
awake. There is but one Sun in the sky.” Mobbed, 
persecuted, exiled, and almost killed, delivered from the 
executioner’s sword by a “miracle,” he kept stoutly on, 
and, in spite of her degeneracy, saw in his beloved native 
land the destined Holy See of a universal church, and in 
himself the man of destiny. Was not the whole universe 
in its essential Buddha-nature behind him? And was 
not the whole long history of Buddhism about to find its 
fulfilment in a great day of the Lord Shaka? Had he, 
Nichiren, not himself, as Jogyo Bosatsu,’ sat on the 


tT.e., the Bodhisattva Visista Caritra. 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 183 


Vulture Peak at the feet of the eternal Buddha? Yet 
in all humility he confessed himself a common man and 
a sinner, ‘‘not quite a messenger of the Tathagata.” 

More than any other Buddhist teacher does he 
approach to the authoritative ‘Thus saith the Lord” of 
the Hebrew prophet, and at the end of his strenuous and 
stormy life he set himself to watch and pray for the 
consummation of the times, and for the establishment of 
his church. Amid loneliness, exposure, and voluntary 
poverty, the old prophet felt himself sustained by the 
vision of a Buddhist universe, repentant and purified by 
his teachings: 


Masses of fog and thickening cloud 
Close ’round about me like a shroud. 
Eternal from the Vulture Peak, 
Whence still eternal voices speak, 
Come, wind of Truth, drive error out 
As morning puts the night to rout. 


Reformer, ecclesiastic, mystic, and poet, Nichiren was 
also a schoolman and a philosopher. On a basis of 
Tendai teaching he developed his “Three Esoteric Laws”’ 
in which he gave a new interpretation to some of the 
teachings of the “Lotus” and a new orientation to 
Buddhism as a whole. The first law is the Daimoku, or 
name of the “Lotus” Sutra. It is by adoration of this 
name that we attain to harmony and union with the Bud- 
dha, for in it is an embodiment of the cosmic soul, or of 
the Buddha-nature. How this may be is incompre- 
hensible, yet by faith it can be grasped and its virtues 
appropriated. The second law is the Honzon, or object 
of worship. Meditation on the mystical body of Buddha, 
which is eternal and is yet named Sakyamuni, is the right 
practice of Dhyana, and the right medium of communica- 


184 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


tion between each worshiper and the faithful; while the 
third law is the Kaidan, morality-platform, or ladder 
of moral instruction, representing the Sila of the orthodox 
Buddhist Sangha. This too is summed up in the five 
words of the title, and the essence of it is faith in these 
words, by which we come to the Pure Land of Calm 
Light. In a word, “Our own body is the pre-existent 
Buddha (Honzon), our thought the good law (Daimoku), 
and our abode the Pure Land of Calm Light (Kaidan).”’ 
To give one’s heart and soul to meditation on the 
Honzon is superior thought; to repeat the title of the 
“Lotus” is superior knowledge; to believe and observe 
it is superior morality—such, in brief outline, is the system 
of Nichiren. Having worked it out stage by stage during 
the thirty years of an active life, in 1281 at the age of 
sixty-one he died, surrounded by his faithful followers and 
murmuring a verse from his beloved Hokke-kyd, serenely 
confident in the future. Had he not seen his own prophecy 
fulfilled and his authority vindicated His influence is 
by no means spent in Japan when brilliant scholars like 
Dr. Anesaki, trained in all the intricacies of Christianity 
and its theology, avow themselves his disciples; and 
when in recent years Takayama, an ardent disciple of 
Nietzsche and of Tolstoi, died in calm confidence in the 
teachings of Nichiren, and did not hesitate to compare him 
with Jesus of Nazareth. Did they not both put first the 
unseen and theeternal? Did not both suffer for the truth? 
Nichiren Shu is one more proof of the vitality of this 
ancient religion, which after twenty-five centuries is 
seeking to renew its youth and adapt itself to a changing 
world. It is also, alas! one more evidence that religion 


™From his little hermitage at Minobu at the foot of Fujiyama Nichiren saw 
his prophecy of a Mongol invasion fulfilled and the Armada scattered by a typhoon, 
and mocked the boasts of Jodo and Shingon priests that their prayers had prevailed. 





NVSVAOM HO SANOL AHL ONOWYV IHSIVdA OFOX 





NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 186 


in Japan as in other lands is apt to play the chauvinist. 
In his imperialistic teachings Nichiren was something 
of a megalomaniac. 

Such are the schools which have originated on Hieisan; 
numbering among them more than three-fourths of the 
Buddhists of Japan, and showing considerable vitality 
at the present day, they are worthy of careful and sympa- 
thetic study much more detailed than is possible here. 
All are pantheistic in their underlying philosophy, poly- 
theistic in common practice, and orthodox as to the final 
goal, Nirvana. But they differ as to method, and, as 
we have seen, they differ profoundly as to their main 
emphasis in appealing to the popular mind. 

If Hieisan is the solemn memorial of a dead past, it 
is because it has shed its life-giving seeds; Koyasan is by 
contrast a center of life and energy. Here Kukai, or 
Kobd, to give him his posthumous name, a younger 
contemporary of Saicho, founded a new Japanese Buddhist 
church, introducing and making indigenous as Shingon 
(True Word) the esoteric or Mantra Buddhism. Like 
Saicho he had studied in China, and at Chang-an had met 
a disciple of Amoghavajra of the Mantra school of Bud- 
dhism, lately introduced. 

Kukai was a man of enormous energy and inquiring 
spirit, and had begun his career with a careful comparative 
study of the three religions of China. The politico-social 
ethic of Confucius, the mysticism of Lao-tze, the philos- 
ophy of Buddhism—in all he found food for his spiritual 
hunger. During his stay of nearly three years at Chang-an 
we may be sure that he studied the conflict of religions, 
learned something of the electicism of the Chinese, and 
watched the growing complexity of Buddhism itself; nor is 
it unreasonable to suppose that he made acquaintance with 


186 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Christianity, which was somewhat widely established at 
this time in China and summarized on such monuments as 
the Nestorian stone, in which a very limited Christian 
theology is set forth in Taoist guise. But it was Tantric 
Buddhism which fired his imagination and captured his 
allegiance, and one book in particular, the Mahdvairochana 
Sambodhi Sutra, known in Japan as Dainichi-kyo, riveted 
his attention. In later years he made a masterly adapta- 
tion of its generalizations, classifying for the purpose of 
propaganda the existing Buddhist schools. This “length- 
wise classification”’ is a useful commentary on the evolu- 
tion of Buddhist doctrine, and if one remembers that it is 
propaganda and does not take it too seriously, it is well 
worthy of study as a remarkably acute essay in the 
comparative study of religion. 

The Buddhist and other schools are divided into ten 
stages: i 
1. At the bottom are beings of brute passions, human 
and demoniac, ignorant of the law of cause and effect 
and of the difference between good and evil. They are 
like the “Ram,” stupid and passionate. } 

2. There is an enlightened as well as a brute stupidity! 
The second stage is known as that of the “Stupid boy who 
practises fasting.”’ It includes those who, like the layman 
of Hinayana and the Confucianists, practice “mere moral- 
ity’ with a view to worldly success, and are not spiritually 
minded. Shingon disciples, who practice the “Three 
Mysteries of Body, Word, and Thought,” belong to this 
class. 

3. Wiser than the stupid boy is “the fearless infant’! 
Folk like Brahmins and the monks who follow the ten 
precepts of Hinayana belong to this stage; ignorant and 
weak, they yet have some thought of the Unseen. The 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 187 


Shingon disciple reaches this stage when he makes progress 
in the practice of the ““Three Mysteries.” 

4. Next comes the stage of the Sravakas, known as 
the “Skandhas without self”; these have begun to think 
philosophically, and are typified by the Kusha sect. 

5. Fifth is the stage of the Pratyeka Buddhas, the 
thought which gets rid of the seeds and cause of action 
and of rebirth, reaching enlightenment through meditat- 
ing on the twelve Nidanas. Such are the followers of 
Jojitsu; and the Shingon disciple reaches this stage when 
he realizes the unreality of the phenomenal world, and 
knows that it is like an image of the moon in water. 

6. Now begins the Mahayana, the “altruistic great 
vehicle”! Realizing that thought alone is real, idealists 
such as the Hosso sect stir up compassion for those who 
are deluded by the unreal phenomenal world, and convey 
others to Nirvana. Right in their idealism, they are 
wrong in their nihilism concerning phenomena. 

7. Those who belong to the Middle Path, and accept 
Nagarjuna’s “Eight Noes,” such as the Sanron school, 
belong to a further stage, and, with those of the foregoing 
class, to a stage of freedom of thought reached in the Yoga 
practices of Shingon. Though the teaching of unreality 
may not be sound philosophy yet when practically applied 
it leads on to the realization of transcendental truth. 

8. Those of the “One Thought Way,” who like the 
Tendai school believe in an ultimate reality, and find it 
expressed in phenomena—pantheistic realists—are one 
stage nearer truth. The phenomenal is real because it is 
identified with the noumenal. 

g. Higher still are those who, like the Kegon school, 
believe in the absolute cosmic soul immanent in all phe- 
nomena, and find the Buddha-nature in both. 


188 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


10. Last and highest are those who hold to the esoteric 
“Thought Adorned with Mystery,” and work out the 
full practical consequences for religion of this idealistic 
philosophy. Such is Shingon: 

The exoteric doctrine having cleansed away the dust of evil, 


Lo! the treasury of mystic truth is opened in the True Word, 
Made real now are all virtues and potencies. 


The first nine stages, in a word, representing all the 
other schools of Buddhism, are only means of suppressing 
passion and of annihilating false beliefs; it is only as he 
reaches the tenth stage that the climber gets beyond the 
mists into the radiant light of day, and finds the real | 
meaning of his own thought and the secret of Buddhahood 
in this present life. Then the cosmic soul is embodied 
for him in every act, but most intensely and truly in the 
performance of mystic ritual, and in the utterances of 
mantras. The'divine is most real when it is most realized; 
and in this ritual, philosophy comes down from the 
clouds to earth; the ideal is realized, and the cosmic soul 
becomes truly incarnate. 

Such is the triumphant apologetic of Shingon, and 
Kukai stands revealed as a systematic thinker of real 
genius. He was also a great artist, and the true books 
of his school are pictures. In addition to his “lengthwise 
system” he introduced to Japan the “side-by-side” 
teaching in graphic form of the Mantra school. This can 
only be understood by close and careful study of two 
elaborate Mandaras, in which every detail is the expres- 
sion of a fanciful, yet closely seasoned system. The first 
Mandara represents the Vajra Dhatu (Kongdkai), or 
“diamond element”’ at once unbreakable, and able to 
cut through the obstacles of passion. The second repre- 
sents the matrix, or Garbha Dhatu (Taizdkai), which is 


NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 189 


like a womb producing and containing the seeds of all 
being. The former is wisdom, the latter reason; the 
former can destroy passion in one’s self; the latter, insep- 
arable from it, is essential to the salvation of others. 
The former is the ideal, or potential, aspect of the uni- 
versal life revealed as Vairochana or Dainichi, the great 
Sun; the latter is the dynamic aspect of the universal 
life; and both are represented pictorially, for art is 
philosophy made concrete. In the Vajra Dhatu Mandara 
Dainichi is seated as a central sun in contemplation, which 
is typified by a white disk. In the Garbha Dhatu Man- 
dara he is enthroned in the heart of an eight-leaved lotus, 
and his double halo of red typifies activity. In the 
former he is surrounded by various “‘emanations,’’ all 
in white disks; in the latter by various “powers” or 
activities personified as deities with red haloes. Both 
aspects, potential and dynamic, reveal the life of this 
cosmic being, whose “emanations” and powers embody 
his inexhaustible goodness. Transcendent, he is also 
immanent in the phenomenal world. By mystic rite, by 
mudra and mantra, the worshiper identifies himself with 
this source of his being, and makes dynamic what before 
has been potential. 

The great Sun is thus the principle of life identified 
with the Tathata, whose energy dwells in and sustains the 
smallest grain of sand, or drop of water. It is his purpose 
to bring men back to a knowledge of their kinship with 
him and to restore them to union with the cosmic lord. 
By a stroke of genius, Kukai, having accepted Vairochana 
as the Dharmakaya, followed Gyogi in now identifying 
him with the sun-goddess, Amaterasu, from whom the 
Mikado traces his descent. The pantheism of Buddhist 
philosophy made this an easy step: 


190 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


The Buddhas in innumerable Buddha-lands 
Are but the cosmic Buddha in us all; 

The golden Lotus, countless as the sands, 
Are our own mortal selves corporeal. 

Each mystic word a universe conceals, 
Each work of art the cosmic life reveals: 
So in this fragile body may we find 


The glorious potencies of life combined. 


Kukai was poet as well as artist and philosopher, and 
the graphic pantheism of Shingon has been a great stimulus 
to art and letters. In more material ways too it has 
appealed to the imagination of the Japanese, by laying 
hold of certain secrets of bodily and spiritual health. 
Long before one comes upon the art-treasures of Koya- 
san one meets, climbing the long, gentle slopes, a steady 
stream of white-clad pilgrims; and among them is many 
a palanquin bearing some sick person in search of health. 
Do they find it,on the sacred mountain? It is claimed 
that many do. One such pilgrim, a picturesque figure in 
his peaked hat with rosary and conch, with vajra, wheel, 
and other symbols of his faith, told me that he had been 
sick in body as well as in soul until a Shingon priest had 
healed him, and now his whole life was given to pilgrimage 
and to the mystic arts of healing. Some of his madras he 
showed me, and to my question as to whether faith were 
needed in the patient: “No,” he replied, “my own faith 
suffices.”” But when I would have questiond him further 
my interpreter rebuked me gently as one might chide a 
botanizer on his mother’s grave! Was I not intruding 
upon holy things, and what had science to do with faith ? 

It is clear that Japan is eager for a religion which affects 
bodily health, and some of the new sects of Shinté, such 
as Tenri-ky6, and Omoto-ky6, which in a few years have 
gathered millions of adherents, embody a kind of Chris- 


aerenier: 
=e 


x 





JIZO AT THE GATES OF KOYASAN 





NARA, HIEISAN, KOYASAN 191 


tian science as one of their chief “planks.” Many are the 
miracles of healing attributed to Kukai, and so great an im- 
pression did he create that when in 835 he passed away he 
was believed merely to have retired into a shrine, there to 
await the coming of Miroku.*. Around him beneath glori- 
ous trees and hideous tombstones? lie the faithful in their 
thousands, and among the tombs 1s many an indication that 
in this strange esoteric development the religion of Sak- 
yamuni has not forgotten its central message of loving- 
kindness. Possibly unique among the monuments of war 
is one erected here by the warlike prince of Satsuma in 
the sixteenth century in honor alike of friend and foe and 
dedicated to their spiritual welfare. Here too one may 
study the mysterious Abhisekha, or baptism-ceremony, 
which would seem to be based on the coronation rite of 
Indian kings, and possibly to be colored by Nestorian 
practices. Handed down from Mahavairochana himself 
this rite reached Kukai through an august succession of 
patriarchs, and today among the Shingon sect “‘ baptism 
for the dead” is a regular part of the funeral ceremonies, 
the gift being transmitted through the living to the 
departed. 

But mysticism too often degenerates into magic, and 
Shingon has not been free from the corruptions of Tantra, 
which we shall study in the following chapter. 


* His work was carried on by his disciples, Jitte, Jikaku, and Chisha, all of whom 
studied in China. 


2 Many containing mystic words probably traceable to the Manichees. 


CHARLEROI 


SVAYAMBHU-NATH AND LHASA 
Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet (ca. 800 A.D.) 


“This beautiful statue is the sum and climax of Tibet. It would be 
difficult to surpass its exquisite workmanship.’—PeErcivaL Lanpon. 

“A repellent image... . with goggle eyes and a coarse, sensual 
face, and of very rude workmanship.’”—WaDDELL. 


I 


Amid the green ricefields and the wooded valleys of 
Nepal, and in sight of the great snow rampart of Himalaya, 
Gotama was born, and here today one may see the Asokan 
pillar which marks the spot in the pleasaunce of Lumbini, 
and trace the course of the Rapti by whose banks he 
meditated. Hence too flowed the little stream of Bud- 
dhism which we have watched as it grew to a mighty 
river; and hither by circuitous ways it returned after a 
thousand years, polluted and hardly to be recognized. 

It is in the land of Sakyamuni that Buddhist theology 
has perhaps reached its greatest elaboration, and that 
Buddhist toleration has worked itself out in the most 
amazing hotch-potch of polytheism, tantrism, and demon- | 
ism, accepting alliance not only with the early animism 
but with Saivite Hinduism, naked and unashamed. 
Climbing the five hundred steps to the shrine of 
Svayambhu-nath, pilgrims from Sikkim, from Bhutan, 
and even from Tibet and distant parts of India jostle 
one another as they go to worship the giant Dor-ji, or 
thunderbolt of Indra, with which he transfixes the demon 


192 


SVAYAMBHU-NATH 193 


of drought and releases the longed-for rains, and here 
Buddhist sttipas and Hindu lingams compete for their 
worship. The hideous Kali with her skull-necklace, 
trampling upon her prostrate lord, stands side by side with 
the pure and lofty Sakyamuni; or worse still Buddhas, of 
whom he is prototype, embrace their saktis in corybantic 
ecstasy, and Hanuman the ape sits cheek by jowl with the 
gentle Avalokitesvara. Here among the Nine Dharmas— 
the great Mahayana scriptures which Nepal has so long 
preserved and now worships—the apocalyptic ‘‘Lotus” 
and the philosophical Prajia-paramita find themselves 
side by side with the sex-orgies of the Tathagata-guhyaka, 
which “‘has all the characteristics of the worst specimens 
of Sakta works,” says Rajendralal Mitra. Here incest 
and other bestiality is made the path to illumination and 
release. In Nepal Hodgson discovered and gave to the 
world priceless manuscripts of these and other works 
preserved for a thousand years in the dry air of this inac- 
cessible land, and, as he said, in the streets of its old towns 
“it is often requisite to walk heedfully .... lest per- 
chance you break your shins against an image of a 
Buddha.” 

Here above all we may study the cult and doctrine of 
the Adi-Buddha and his emanations, which is the key to 
much that is puzzling in the iconography of later 
Mahayana. Though we are not yet in a position to state 
without qualification the origin and nature of this doc- 
trine, it seems a final stage of the trikaya theology and of 
the alaya of the Yogacara. Some selection from the 
mass of material accumulated by Hodgson, De la Vallée 
Poussin, and other scholars may be of value to the student 
who is not a specialist. 

1 Nepalese Buddhist Literature, p. 261. 


194 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


It is clear that in Nepal we have a Buddhism of a 
distinct theistic type, which Burnouf considers must be 
distinguished from the Hinayana and the Mahayana 
alike. Poussin admirably contrasts it with the former 
by setting over against the old formula, “Of all that 
proceeds from causes the Tathagata has explained the 
cause,” a new one, “Of all that proceeds from causes the 
Tathagata is the cause.” The historic Buddha is now, 
in a word, the representative of a First Cause, unorigi- 
nated, self-existing Svayambhu; and this is the deity 
worshiped at the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, and at the 
shrine of Svayambhi-nath. “He has never been seen; 
he isin Nirvana. Nevertheless he is pure light, he issues 
from the ‘void’ (sufiyata) and his names are innumer- 
able.”* By his contemplative power (dhyana) he pro- 
duces five Jinas, or Dhyani-Buddhas: Vairochana, the 
Brilliant; Akshobya, the Imperturbable; Ratnasamb- 
hava, the Jewel-born; Amoghasiddhi, Sure Success; and 
Amitabha, Endless Light; they are creators of corporeal 
forms, to whom is sometimes added Vajrasattva, who from 
being an early attendant-spirit of Sakyamuni is promoted 
to be creator of immaterial things. From these Dhyani- 
Buddhas are born Dhyani-Bodhisattvas, Samantabhadra, 
Vajrapani, Avalokitesvara (or Padmapani), Ratnapani, 
and Visvapani, and their reflexes, the historic Buddhas. 
Thus Sakyamunt is the reflex of Avalokitesvara, who is the © 
Dhyani-Bodhisattva of Amitabha, in whom the invisible 
Adi-Buddha is revealed; the historic Kanakamuni is 
the reflex of Akshobya, while the coming Buddha, Mait- 
reya, will represent Amogha-siddhi. 

In the Avalokitesvara-guna-Karandavyitha in its metri- 
cal form this hierarchy of Buddhas is set forth. Here 

t Adibuddha,” E.R.E., Vol. I. 


SVAYAMBHU-NATH 19§ 


Avalokitesvara is derived from the meditation of Adi- 
Buddha, and co-operates in the creation of the world by 
giving his eyes to form sun and moon, his teeth to form 
Saraswati, goddess of eloquence, and so on. Here too 
we read of the descent of this great spirit into hell, which 
forthwith becomes a paradise. 

How did this elaborate system arise ? Wecannot be cer- 
tain, but some points to be taken into account are—(a) the 
appearance in such early sculptures as those of Gandhara 
of two Bodhisattvas, one Maitreya with long hair and with 
a flask in his hand, and another, almost certainly Avalokit- 
esvara, in whose tiara sits a Buddha who is in teaching 
mudra, but may be Amitabha; (4) very early in the devel- 
oped Mahayana we meet with the grouping of Avalokit- 
esvara and Mahasthamaprapta as the attendants and 
spiritual sons of Amitabha; in the Amitdyur-dhyana 
Sutra, for example, they play an important part; (c) 
there is considerable confusion of idea, the Bodhisattva 
being sometimes the spiritual son and pupil of the Bud- 
dhas, sometimes a potential Buddha, who out of compas- 
sion to the world refrains from entering Nirvana, and is 
more effective than the Buddhas, who, though they are 
majestic beings, are not of much practical help to their 
devotees; (d) the pantheistic background from which 
all these figures emerge is, as we have seen, a development 
of earlier Buddhology and of the idealistic philosophy of 
the Vijfianavada. 

These ideas are all to be seen blending in the cult of 
Adi-Buddha; it is theistic, not in virtue of worship paid 
to him as supreme but rather because one of his emana- 
tions is often promoted to what Poussin calls the “presi- 
dency”; and we find in Japanese Buddhism, for example, 
a similar process at work, Vairochana at times being 


196 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


supreme, with Amitabha as his reflex, as in Shingon Shu, 
and Amitabha himself wresting the “presidency” from 
him in Jédo Shu, much as in Hinduism the shadowy 
Brahman retires behind some Avatar, now Vishnu, now 
Krishna, now Siva. Indeed, in the whole Buddhist 
theory of emanations and of the substantial identity of 
Jina and Jinaputra, or Buddha and Bodhisattva, we see 
the Hindu mind at work. 

This elaborate theology is clearly an attempt to work 
out the Trikaya doctrine for popular presentation; how 
readily the idea of a Tathagata-garbha, or ‘Womb of the 
Buddhas,” leads to the identification of the Dharmakaya 
with an original cause, the Adi-Buddha; the Nirmana- 
kaya, as the adaptation of the Eternal to temporal needs, 
expresses itself naturally in the phraseology of generation 
or spiritual sonship, while the Sambhogakaya, invisible 
yet real and effective, is at once a glorified being, and the 
Eternal and Absolute in action. He has been compared, 
indeed, both to the glorified Christ, and to the Holy Spirit 
of Christian theology. 

In such ways the Adi-Buddha doctrine was worked 
out. It is a remarkable attempt to bring order out of 
the growing chaos, and to provide a hierarchy for the 
faithful. We may summarize it in some such form as 
this: , 

In the beginning, when all was void was the Om, and from it the . 
self-existent Svayambhi,' the Adi-Buddha, by his own will was 
manifest, who was before all. As a flame he issued from the Lotus, 
and from him, who is without form, all things proceed; from him pro- 
ceed the Dhyani-Buddhas, and from them the Dhyani-Bodhisattvas, 
through whom the worlds are made. 

In eternal calm of contemplation dwell Adi-Buddha and Dhyani 
Buddhas; to whom shall prayer be made? To the creative and sus- 


* This title occurs first in Buddhist literature in Milinda Paviha, p. 214, where it 
meant “‘self-enlightened.” 


SVAYAMBHU-NATH 197 


taining powers, the Dhyani-Bodhisattvas, who are to them as his hand 
is to man. Compassionate are they to the world, and obedient to his 


behest. 


If that were all, the study of the pantheon would be a 
simple matter, but as we have seen there is much confu- 
sion; often in Nepal, for instance, the Bodhisattva Mafyusri 
is honored as Adi-Buddha, and Vairochana, Vajrasattva, 
and Vajrapani are all used as names of the Svayambhi. 
The Aisvarikas of Nepal, moreover, have another trinity, 
a strange development of the “Three Jewels’ —the Bud- 
dha symbolizing generative power, the Dharma produc- 
tivity, and the Sangha their son, who is the active creator 
and ruler! Nor has the Self-existent escaped this tantric 
enthusiasm for matrimony: his consort is Adi-prajfia or 
Adi-dharma, and in their esoteric form they appear 
together in close embrace as Yogambara and Jfanasvari. 
In Tibet they appear as Vajradhara and his Sakti, who 
holds a skull-cap and a vajra, and are the chief deities, in 
theory at least, of Red and Yellow Cap alike. Let us 
glance at this turbid inland lake in which the stream of 
Buddhism lies befouled and stagnant. We may find 
some lotus blossoms even there, for streams from India 
and from China as well as from Nepal have poured their 
waters into it. 


I] 


On a plateau, “the Plain of Milk,” 1,200 feet above 
the sea and girdled with vast snowy peaks, rises the for- 
bidden city of Lhasa, and on a rocky spur above it towers 
the great Potala, the palace of a “living Buddha,” the 
Dalai Lama, in whom is incarnate Avalokitesvara. Many 
times in the history of China and Japan some good 
emperor or some holy monk has been acclaimed as the 
Compassionate One come down to earth, but here in this 


198 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ancient city he has his abiding place. Apart from this, 
Tibetan Buddhism is not essentially different from much 
in China and Japan, and is very much like that of Nepal. 
It is Mahayana in tantric guise, and it has made terms 
with a darker animistic cult than in any other land. 

As we have seen, the Yogacara school of Asanga, 
founded in the fourth century, is idealistic in its philos- 
ophy, maintaining that only thought exists, and in its prac- 
tice makes meditation, long-continued, the only way to the 
goal. In order to attain to Bodhi, the universal and only 
Reality, the seeker must become a Bodhisattva and 
practice Yogacara continually. To help him in this 
arduous task, dharanis, charms or spells, are provided, 
and he is encouraged to look for miracles, for there is 
only one Reality, and we must expect that as the veil of 
illusion wears thin it will break through. We can best 
understand the developments of this school if we remind 
ourselves that Buddhism in India is a Hindu reform move- 
ment, promoted for a brief period to be the religion of 
Asokan India, but subject to reabsorption in the amazingly 
plastic system of Hinduism. When, therefore, between 
500 and goo a.p. the Sakta systems with their goddesses, 
their occult practices, their hypnotic meditation, their 
medico-religious quackeries, appeared, Buddhism did not 
escape the infection, and it was this contaminated type 
which entered Tibet in the seventh century. According — 
to the stone edicts of Lhasa this was before the time of 
the great Srong Btsan Gampo (630-98 4.D.), but we may 
accept his reign as the epoch which saw at once the intro- 
duction of Buddhism and of the script of the Indian alpha- 
bet current in Northern India. The first booklet 
translated into Tibetan in the new letters was a hymn 
to Avalokitesvara, using the “Om mani padme hum” 


LHASA 199 


formula now so familiar. One of the first temples to be 
built for the new religion was the Jokkhang,* or “Lord’s 
House,” which formed a nucleus and a Holy of Holies, un- 
holiest of all, for the great cathedral of today, whose golden 
roof flashes amid dark trees in the center of the town. 
But Buddhism had to face a strong and ignorant 
opposition from priests and people, in whom the Bon 
animism was strong, and, as in other lands, it needed the 
patronage of the throne to set it upon its feet. SriSrong 
De-Btsan, the son of a Chinese princess, was the Tibetan 
Asoka who summoned the great scholar, Padmasmabhava, 
from Nalanda, where he had learned the idealist philos- 
ophy and also the magic and occultism of the Yogacara 
school. In 747 he settled in Tibet with a company of 
other Indian monks and some Tibetan novices, of whom 
one Dpal-bangs became the first Lama, or abbot, some 
thirteen years later, and a great translator of the Sanskrit 
texts. These pioneers were great and notable scholars, 
and it is a wonderful fact that their translations, wherever 
they have been tested, “display such scrupulous literary 
accuracy, even down to the smallest etymological detail, 
as to excite the admiration of all modern scholars who have 
examined them,.? The Canon, or Ka-gyur, in one hundred 
and eight volumes, is divided into seven sections, for in 
addition to the Vinaya and Sdtras it contains T4antras; 
and some of the Si#tras have been subdivided. “It is the 
word of the Buddha,” says S. Lévi.3 ‘“‘The commentary, 


1 Jo means “lord.” “By a curious perversion of the Mahayanist doctrine of the 
Kayatraya (i.e., Trikaya), they say that the Lhasa Jo is the Dharmakaya, the Peking 
Jo is the Sambhogak4ya, and the Kumbum Jo is the Nirmanakaya.”—Rockhill, The 
Land of the Lamas, p. 105. 

The quotations at the head of this chapter describe the treasure of the Jokkhang— 
a statue of the youthful Sakyamuni. 


2 Waddell, “Lamaism,” E.R.E. 


3 Among its contents he notes Prajfiaparamita in twenty-eight volumes; the Vinaya 
in thirteen volumes; 4vatamsaka in six volumes; and Ténra in twenty-two volumes. 


200 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Tan-gyur,.in two hundred and fifty volumes, contains the 
Fathers of the Church”’; it is a great encyclopedic library 
of ancient Indian lore or metaphysics, logic, composition, 
arts, alchemy, etc., including the commentaries of ancient 
Indian Buddhist writers, N agarjuna, and others, also 
some texts by Tsong Ka-pa and other Tibetan saints. 
Its contents have not yet been fully examined. The 
translation of the Canon and of most of the commentary 
was completed by the latter half of the ninth century, and 
the patron under whom this great work was accomplished, 
Ral-pa-chan, endowed monasteries and did so much at 
the expense of the state as to lead to his assassination by 
his own brother, who put himself at the head of a Bon 
conspiracy, and began a savage persecution of the invad- 
ing cult. His reward came swiftly, and the popular 
“miracle-plays” of Tibet have no more popular scene 
than that of his murder by a Buddhist monk disguised 
as a Bon devil-exorcist. Alas that the disguise has become 
a habit! With its genius for compromise Buddhism in 
Tibet has made terms with the primitive cult, though it is 
difficult to say how much of the superstition and quackery 
that goes on in the name of Buddhism belongs to Saivite 
Hinduism and is an importation from India, and how 
much is distinctively Bon. In any case, it is there because 
Buddhism made terms with it, and it has done the people 
of Tibet untold harm and the religion of Sakyamuni great 
and lasting disgrace. 

Yet we may do now what Buddhist leaders should 
have done long since, and cutting away the rank tropic 
growth of magic, of obscurantism, and of cruel exploita- 
tion of the people, may lay bare the genuine Buddhism 
that lies like an august and aged trunk hidden and rotting 
underneath. The majority of the monks belong to the 


LHASA 201 


Ge-lug, or Yellow Hats, and are celibate, keeping the 
two hundred and fifty-three rules of Mahayana monasti- 
cism, and claiming to derive their authority from Maitreya 
Buddha, as revealed in the succession from Asanga down 
to Tsong Ka-pa. But they have also a Yi-dam, or tutelary 
deity, Vajrabhairava, a manifestation of Yamantaka, 
most fearsome of all Mahayana deities. He is the 
ferocious emanation of Mafjusri with a bulgy head, 
scowling brows, and three eyes, and sometimes he has 
the head of a bull, and a chaplet of skulls. With him is 
usually depicted his Sakti, or female counterpart, em- 
bracing him, while underfoot he tramples animals and 
birds. Their Dharmapala, or guardian, is no less atrocious, 
the “‘six-armed lord,” Hayagriva, horse-headed and often 
crowned with skulls, while under his feet are demons, 
and about him clings his Sakti. 

Here are clearly Indian tantric deities, and one clasps 
the mystic Vajra, or thunderbolt, a phallus symbolizing 
Mystic Truth, indestructible and potent in exorcism, a 
weapon introduced to Tibet by Padmasambhava, and 
known as the Dor-je, and now familiar in all Mahayana 
temples. These deities represent two ranks in the hier- 
archy of gods who surround Avalokitesvara, the Yi-dam 
being of the Buddha rank and the Dharmapala being of 
the rank of Bodhisattva; and their images are to be seen 
painted on the limestone rocks of Lhasa and on innumer- 
able temple banners. To them worship of an elaborate 
and ritualistic kind is paid, an honor they share with the 
nine sacred books, or Dharmaparyayas, and the Living 
Buddhas. 

It was this strange doctrine introduced by Tsong ka-pa 
which really distinguished the Buddhism of Tibet from 


that of India, and which has given so disatrous a power 


202 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


to the Lamas, culminating in 1640 in the creation of the 
Dalai Lama as sole head, temporal and spiritual, of all 
Tibet. 

Side by side with the Ge-lug-pa monks are the Kar-gyu, 
or white Lamas, more ascetic and given to solitary medita- 
tion and at times to great austerity. On their hats is a 
St. Andrew’s cross, typifying the cross-kneed posture of 
meditation, and their Yi-dam also is Vajradhara; but their 
guardian is Bar-nag, “the lord of the black cloak,” and 
their practice of mystical insight is different. 

Several subsects have arisen out of this austere and 
unpopular Kar-gyu, but it is still next to Ge-lug the most 
powerful of the sects; and next to it Waddell places the 
Sas-kya, founded in 1073, and setting up a hierarchy of 
great power. Its great Bodhisattva is Mafjusri, regarded 
as supreme, and it traces its authority to Nagarjuna. Its 
tutelary god is Vajraphurpa, and it belongs to the orthodox 
Red Caps. Its monks are not celibate and yet it is to 
some extent reformed, having been stimulated to activity 
by the reformation of Atisa, and it has given birth to two 
reforming subsects. 

Such are the great schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and 
it is to the Indian monk, Atisa, that we must look if we 
are to understand their significance. By the early 
eleventh century Tibetan monks were legion, had made 
terms with the old Bén-pa, and had departed from the 
Middle Path, not only marrying but living openly with 
mistresses, as many do today. In 1038 Atisa arrived 
from India and started to clean the Augean stables, and 
the Yellow Hat sect is the Ge-lug, or “ Virtuous Order,” 
which has developed from his Ka-dam, or “Men under 
Discipline.” The other two great sects, Kar-gyu and 
Sas-kya, are also to some extent reformation movements, 


LHASA 203 


and though they are all three tantric, and tainted with 
Bon superstitions, they are nevertheless schools of the 
Mahayana, and their gods and Bodhisattvas are for the 
most part Buddhist. 7 

But in addition to these there are those who have 
refused to reform—the Nying-ma—and they have had 
to defend their old Bén practices by inventing “revela- 
tions,’ or hidden gospels, and attributing them to Pad- 
masambhava. These are known as Ter-ma, and their 
authors claimed that they had been in former births 
disciples of the great teacher, and had learned from him 
that the rites they defended were really good Buddhist 
practices. To him almost more honor is paid than to 
Sakyamuni, or to the Adi-Buddha. 

Thus the religion of Tibet, whatever Western scholars 
may feel, claims to be good Buddhism, more or less 
orthodox as it has submitted to reforms and expurgations. 
Strangely enough the Yellow Hats, who are most orthodox 
in doctrine, are most unlike their co-religionists elsewhere 
in being organized as a regular hierarchy, with a Grand 
Lama exercising a priest-kingship over all Tibet, and 
appointing other great Lamas at Tashi-lhumpo, at Urga, 
and at Peking." 

This was a gradual process, the fifth Grand Lama 
inventing the doctrine of his divine origin, and claiming 
that he and the first incumbent were both incarnations of 
the great Srong Btsan Gampo, and that he was the great 
and merciful “Spirit of the Mountains,” identical with 
Avalokitesvara, Chan-ra-zi, the “god who is clad with 
eyes,” and whose favor is won by uttering the mystic 
spell, “Om mani padme hum.” Strangely enough too 


* Here, in striking contrast to the dignity and simplicity of the Confucian shrines, 
the Lama temples may be conveniently studied. 


204 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


he invented, with unexpected modesty, a higher destiny 
for his colleague at Tashi-lhumpo, proclaiming that he 
was Amitabha. The Grand Lamas at Urga and Peking 
are of less august descent, and their jurisdiction, spiritual 
and temporal, is more limited, as is their asceticism, his 
holiness of Urga having a harem, and both having to keep 
the favor of the Dalai Lama. None of these “Living 
Buddhas” is respected by the Red Hats, whom they in 
turn despise for their laxity. 

Below these great ones are the four grades of monks 
so numerous as to be a curse to the country (more than 
one-third of the entire population of Tibet and more than 
half in Mongolia being enrolled in them). In Lhasa itself 
two-thirds of the population are said to be monks dwelling 
in three vast monasteries and some smaller ones. They 
are: (1) lay-adherents, upasikas, or ge-snen, usually 
children under instruction, but sometimes adults also; 
(2) neophytes, ordained as probationers and taking part 
in the services, having bound themselves to keep the 
thirty-six vows; these correspond to the samanéras of 
Ceylon, and are the majority of the order; (3) the 
Bhikkhus, or Ge-long, are the Elders, or Thera, who have 
taken the full vows of the order, and (4) the abbots, or 
K’an-po, who rule over monastic houses and need to be 
strong disciplinarians. They alone are really Lamas, or 
teachers(Guru). There are also nuns much less numerous, 
and even less literate, than the majority of the monks; 
of them we have little knowledge, but it may be that 
there are pious women among them. 

In Tibet, monastic Buddhism has had free course and 
provides a reductio ad absurdum of the system; the easy 
tolerance of Buddhism has allowed the Dharma to be 
prostituted to the base uses of an unscrupulous priesthood, 


LHASA 205 


and the noble figures of the Buddhist deities have given 
place to corybantic and erotic demons. Facilis des- 
census Averno! 

Yet even here the religion has shown powers of recu- 
peration, as in the reforms of Atisa, and there is mingled 
with the magic and quackery some genuine mysticism. 
Each great sect has its own Yoga, and there are devotees 
and adepts who, we may believe, arrive at mystic states 
of mental clarity. Nor can we fail to respect the stoic 
endurance of the solitaries of the ascetic school; here as 
one passes by steep and gloomy ways through some 
mountain pass a thin and feeble hand may be seen to 
flicker from a crevice in the gray rock, and peering into 
the gloom one may dimly see the hermit, who with wist- 
ful, sunken eyes looks out upon a world he has forever 
left. Or it may be he has immured himself completely 
and only a hand is to be seen, while within he is lying in 
filth and misery unspeakable, self-immolated in a death- 
in-life, seeking to find in some paradise beyond a solace 
and joy as poignant as his pain in this fleeting world. 
No one who has read it can forget Colonel Waddell’s 
description of such a colony of solitary hermits in their 
“cave of happy musing upon misery”; “poor ghostly 
tenants of a subterranean world . . . . sinking miserably 
into a lethargy of driveling imbecility.’”” 

Such was Milaraspa, an Indian hermit-saint of the 
eleventh century, whose hymns are still popular, to whom 
magic powers are attributed and who had his chief cell 
on Mount Everest. 

Of the strange power of these men over the people it is 
difficult for Western minds to conceive, for the East 
venerates austerity, and believes that it brings an exceed- 


1 [hasa and Its Mysteries, pp. 236-44. 


206 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


ingly great reward. And even the ordinary monk, lazy 
and corrupt though he be, is accepted as the intermediary 
between the suppliant and his gods, Tara or Délma alone 
being at all times directly accessible to human prayer. 
So from the mud of corruption flowers this lotus bloom 
upon the ancient stem, and it is good to pause and con- 
template the goodness and power of God, and the yearn- 
ing of the heart of man, as even here it vindicates itself. 

The goddess Tara seems to have found a place in 
the Buddhist pantheon in the sixth century, and Hiuen- 
Tsiang found her cult strongly established in Northern 
India, until, as the centuries went by, every house had 
its image of this deliveress. That seems to be the meaning 
of her name, and beautiful stories are told of her begetting; 
one that she sprang from a blue ray that streamed from 
Amitabha’s eye, another that a tear from the compassion- 
ate Avalokitesvara grew into a lake, from out of which 
arose a lotus bloom, and in its fragrant heart lay the pure 
and lovely Tara. She is incarnate in all good women, 
and was first revealed to Tibet in the queens of Srong- 
tsan-gampo. So grew the belief in her twofold manifesta- 
tion as the white and the green Tara, one a full-blown, 
open lotus, the other closed. The white Tara, like the 
open lotus, symbolizes day; and the green, a closed 
bloom, symbolizes night, for the compassion of the good 
Avalokitesvara is ever vigilant. In support of this 
interpretation are many pictures in which she holds a 
full-blown lotus, and above her are Sun and Moon. Yet 
even this lovely figure was not allowed to go unsullied, 
and to her were added the ferocious manifestations, red, 
yellow, and blue, which, with her two kindly forms, were 
all regarded as the Sakti, or female energies, of the five 
Dhyani-Bodhisattvas. 


LHASA 207 


As Sakti of Avalokitesvara the white Tara symbolizes 
Transcendent Wisdom, and has often the third eye of 
fore-knowledge, and the green Tara often has four arms, 
symbolizing her gifts to mankind, while among their 
titles are such noble names as these—“‘dispeller of grief,” 
“subduer of evil passion,” “giver of happiness,” “‘assua- 
ging strife,” and “potent in all nature.” 

The symbolism of these various forms is in itself an 
elaborate study, and indeed Tibetan Buddhism has carried 
symbolism to a wonderful perfection, and its art is unique 
in its blending of microscopic detail and bold, decorative 
schemes. Upon its altars with their rich trappings are 
the “eight glorious emblems’’—the parasol of royal rank, 
the two fishes of joy and luck, the conch of right conduct 
whose whorls turn to the right, the lotus of salvation, the 
bowl of treasure, the diagram of transmigration, the 
standard of victory, and the wheel of the Dharma. With 
them are the seven Jewels of a Cakravarti, or universal 
emperor; and before them are set out seven bowls with 
the offerings of ancient Indian hospitality—water for feet 
and hands, flowers and perfumes, a lamp, food, and drink. 

Here too on special occasions are incense, the “eight 
glorious offerings,”’ and sometimes the symbols of the five 
senses dedicated to the gods—a mirror for sight, a shell 
for hearing, nutmegs for smell, sugar or fruit for taste, 
and silk for touch. There are also bells, vajras, skulls, 
at times filled with blood, at others used as drums; all this 
under a baldachino of silk and gold almost hiding the 
images of the gods, of whom there are said to be at least 
five hundred. For a study of some of these the student 
will find Miss Getty’s fine work, The Gods of Northern 
Buddhism, most useful. It is too intricate a subject, 
however, for all except specialists; and even they work 


208 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


at it with some of the faith of the pathologist, that from 
his close study of the abnormal and the morbid light may 
be cast upon the normal and healthy. So from Tibetan 
Buddhism we may find light yet breaking out and illu- 
minating some of the many obscure places in the vast 
field of the development of religion. Even in its iconog- 
raphy there is displayed an ingenuity and an art which 
may, to many of us, seem misapplied, and yet which have 
kept alight the torch of faith in dark days, and have, as we 
saw in the case of Tara, held it high at times for all to see. 

In the libraries of the great temples there are rich 
treasures for the scholar; and to these books the priests pay 
a superstitious veneration which does not, however, often 
go to the length of study! Bound in wooden covers and 
weighing several pounds, each volume is placed reverently 
on the head of any who handle it; and they are taken at 
times in solemn procession to drive away evil spirits from 
beds of sickness, or from newly planted fields, when the 
services of the monks are duly bought. No one who has 
attended a service of this kind will forget the childlike 
faith of the peasantry, wholly in bondage to the priests, 
nor the deep, guttural chanting of these custodians of all 
knowledge and of divine powers. 

A High Mass resembles that in a Japanese or Chinese 
temple, that is to say, it is like a service of the Catholic 
church: 


The deep, organ-like bass of the singers, the swell and fall, the 
intoning, the silvery-toned bells, accentuated at times by the muffled 
roll of the drums, gave altogether a majestic and sacred character to the 
service, whilst the flickering lights and the figures of the priests, looming 
out of the darkness and through the thin clouds of incense fumes, like 
shadows vivid yet veiled, made up a most impressive spectacle. 


So writes Waddell, and reminds us of the belief of the 
Abbé Huc that the devil had taught the Lamas to perform 


LHASA 209 


this ritual, that they might be forearmed against his 
mission. 

There are, indeed, many things in Tibetan Buddhism 
which might without bias be ascribed to the subtlety of 
the Evil One; but I should not select the ritual, which 
apart from its blood-offerings, may well be derived from 
early missions of the Christian church. Today that 
church has greater gifts for Tibet, and is even now helping 
to awake her out of lethargy and dull despair. Yet the 
services in such great shrines as the Potala need not 
become dull and colorless because they become respectable. 
And there is surely a place for a Tibetan Christianity, for 
a hermit order of Christian Tibetans, less austere and 
more human, and for a Trinitarian theology not different 
in essentials from the doctrine of Adi-Buddha. Nor need 
the Western church refuse to learn from the artist-monks, 
for instance, who understood their beliefs clearly enough 
to put them into such admirable charts as the well-known 
“Wheel of Life.” Artists the Buddhism of Nepal and 
Tibet has produced, especially in bronze, who surely have 
rich gifts for the church of Christ. And it is good to 
contemplate the work of emancipation which His Spirit 
will do among these sturdy mountain-folk, freeing them 
from fear and slavery, from poverty and dirt, and setting 
free the blind devotion which now spends itself so lavishly 
on “Living Buddhas,” on prayers which are mechanical 
yet often voice the cry of the human heart, on the support 
of a vast army of drones and tyrants, and on the cult of 
degenerate gods. 

That the peoples of these northern lands are naturally 
religious is clear; no nation on earth supports its church 
at greater cost or with more cheerful sacrifice. No food 
is taken without offerings being made to the gods of the 


210 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


four quarters; prayer-cylinders and flags are everywhere, 
the use of such formulas as “Om mani padme hum” is 
universal, and indeed the land is filled with evidences that 
religion means much to its people. Yet Rockhill can say, 
“Tt is surprising how small a place the performance of 
religious ceremonies occupies in their daily life,’’ only to 
go on and describe a daily even-song such as can be 
found in few Western lands: 

As night falls lamps are lit on the altars of every Buddhist temple, 
and a short service is chanted, while lamas seated on the porch play a 
rather mournful hymn on long copper horns and clarinets. This is 
the signal for the housewife to light bundles of aromatic juniper boughs 
in the ovens made for the purpose on the roofs of their homes, and as the 
fragrant smoke ascends to heaven they sing.a hymn or litany in which 
the men of the house often join, the deep voices of the latter and the 
clear high notes of the former blending most agreeably with the distant 
music in the lamaseries.* 

In the morning offerings are placed before the house- 
hold gods; and the veneration paid to “Living Buddhas” 
amounts too to a ceremonial observance. I shall never 
forget the prostrations made before the young Maharaja 
of Sikkim, an Oxford man somewhat restive under this 
excessive adulation. But, as he said to me, “My land 
is not lacking in the spirit of religion,” and wherever the 
eye rested it found ample proof of this. 

But of Mahatmas, or of the great spiritual and mental 
achievements described by the theosophists, there is no 
trace. Their medical science is quackery, their religion a 
raw material terribly perverted too often by blind leaders. 
Here, as in other Buddhist lands, the gospel of Christ 
awaits great and signal triumphs. It will replace count- 
less capricious deities and demons by a loving Father-God, 
and will bring to fruition the devotion of these spiritually 
hungry peoples, filling with new meaning whatever is 
lovely and of good repute. 

* The Land of the Lamas, p. 248. 


APPENDIX I 


FA-HIAN IN LANKA! 
(Ca. goo A.D.) 


The sun has gone, and velvet night apace 
Begins to hang her lanterns in the sky. 
Fragrance of champak and of jessamine, 
Breathing their sweetness to the silver moon, 
Bewitches all my senses. Far below 

The pipes and tomtoms call the worshippers, 
And points of light creep upward to the shrine, 
Inviting me to worship with the rest. 

Yet I sit on alone and meditate, 

Heartsick for mine own countrymen and home. 
To-day at worship, as I knelt before 

The jasper image (which I told thee of, 

Rare miracle of art), a fan of taffeta 

Painted with hills and clustering temple roofs, 
And circling mists about their gable-ends, 
Moved me to childish weeping. .... 

So do I yearn towards my dear, dear land, 
And longing fills my breast to sit once more 
Encircled by the faces that I love, 

And see Chang-an and mine own monastery. 


Ah me! “From love springs sorrow; very sorrowful 
Is separation from the thing we love.” 
So spake the Master. True his word, yet harsh 
To us who know not yet detachment’s calm, 
Which, craving none, has sympathy with all. 
The way is long and very steep the slope 
And stern the struggle to attain the goal; 


Enough! Grant me to ease my heart’s desire 
t From the International Review of Missions. 


2I1 


i098 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


By telling of my sojourn in this land. 

Thou knowest already of our journeyings 
Across the deserts of Yarkand, and thence, 
Scaling the mountains, how we came at last 
To places trodden by those holy feet. 

Of which the crown and flower is this 

Lovely Tamravati, the Holy Isle; 

Whose beauties would that I might chronicle, 
And tell thee of the triumph of the Law, 
Whose Wheel yet runneth its triumphant course. 
Gaya is derelict; the grove of Lumbini, 

The Master’s birthplace, sore neglected lies; 
Vultures alone frequent the Vulture Peak, 
Where Arahats once communed with their Lord. 
But here the puissant Sangha doth proclaim 
On monuments of stone how great its power 
To make a nation prosperous and strong. 
Fragrant as champak is the Noble Law 
Pervading and enriching all the Earth! 

Here in Tamravati Asoka’s son 

Six centuries ago established it. 

Heir to his father’s throne, he rather chose 

To be the herald of the Dhamma’s realm, 
Embracing exile, that its influence 

Might make this lovely isle a land of bliss. 
Heroic prince! His courage shameth me. 

But yesterday I pondered in the cave 

Where once Mahinda, rapt in holy thought, 
Would gaze o’er Lanka’s forests league on league. 
His home he left, his kindred and his throne; 
And how shall I, poor weakling, thus repine ? 
For I have found the books I sought, and soon 
Do purpose to return (if Heaven grant, 

And Karma) and will bring with me their lore. 
Know then I had them from the learned sage 
Great Buddhaghosa’s self; he doth translate 
Back to the ancient tongue of Magadha 

The treasured writings of the islanders, 


APPENDICES 213 


Guarded with reverence down the centuries— 
A very learned man. We held converse 
Seated beneath a rocky canopy, 
Where palm leaves rustled in the evening breeze 
And plashing waters soothed and charmed the ear. 
To whom with bitter shame I fain must tell 
How poor and ignorant our monks, contrasting them 
With the great abbots, who in Lanka here 
Puissant and learned, overawe the King, 
And bend him to the purpose of the Law. 
Of other things we spoke, and most of how 
The Dhamma doth develop in the North. 
Austere, I argued, in its origin, 
Beauteous as moonlight, and as coldly clear; 
Yet something lacking grace, which mortals need 
Who long to pray, to feel an answering touch, 
When to the heavens they lift the hands of faith. 
To which the sage made answer, “Saving grace 
We find in sacrificial lives of Bodhisat. 
More than the Ocean is the blood he shed, 
More than the stars of Heaven the eyes he gave. 
Which merit, running over, doth avail 
For all the pain and sorrow of the world. 
So potent is the Master’s saving love!” 

“Such is the germ,” I answered, “growing whence 
By ordered steps our doctrine doth unfold. 
This saving love in Amitabha see, 
Whose grace abounds when our poor merit fails; 
Who brings us to his Western Paradise, 
More winsome to the heart of mortal man 
Than cold Nirvana’s solitary bliss.” 
Of our Compassionate Lady, too, we spoke 
Kwanyin, who hearkens to the cries of men. 
And here in Lanka is another Name 
Which links our doctrine with the Master’s Norm, 
Arguing the oneness of the Holy Law 
The Greater and the Lesser Vehicles. 
For here they reverence Metteyya, King 


214 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Of Love, the Coming Buddha whom our Lord 

Foretold. Far off, they say, his coming; 

Yet he comes, to nerve the struggling efforts of the world; 

So in his Name they pray, and find new strength. 

And in his Name do fathers bless their sons, 
“May ye be born to see the Lord of Love.” 

For so is man; not made for solitude 

And lonely striving, but for love and prayer; 

So only can he steel his wavering will 

To drive out Tanha from its citadel... .. 

Last must I tell thee of another Lord, 

Whose story moved me strangely. At the shrine 

A merchant-sailor, out of Jaffa come, 

Who spoke the language of the islanders, 

Held converse with the Bhikkhu, and with joy 

—Ecstatic joy as of a man in love— 

Told him of one, the Anointed King of Peace, 

Who for the mighty love He bore the world 

Became a servant, and endured to die. 

In short his story seemed like Bodhisat’s, 

Save that this Syrian Lord was done to death 

By men whose eyes were blinded by the dust 

Of pride and anger to his righteousness ... . 

Our people do not slay their prophets thus! 

And then the merchant told of stranger things; 

Of how this Lord of Love did conquer death 

And liveth yet to judge and rule the world: 

Whose Kingdom is a reign of righteousness, 

Goodwill on earth and hearts atoned to God. 

A winsome doctrine, making visible 

The Unseen Love, and bringing Him to dwell 

Homely and courteous with sinful men, 

Until in triumph He doth take his power and reign. 

Strange doctrine, which our hearts acclaim, 

And yet repugnant to the calmer intellect. 

Physicians say it cannot be believed 

That spirit should reanimate the flesh, 

And turn the processes of nature back. 


APPENDICES 


Yet righteousness hath wondrous power to change 
The course of things. Thou knowest how the saint 
Can rise in air, as spirit doth prevail 

O’er flesh, and can escape the bonds of space 

And time, beholding things of the dead past, 

The unborn future yet in Karma’s womb. 
Sainthood hath wondrous power, and ye know 
The “Lotus of the Holy Law” doth teach 

Our Master liveth yet upon the Vulture Peak, 
For he too conquered death. .... 

Indeed I see the Christ, this Syrian Lord, 
Because I first have seen the Bodhisat! 

This thing demandeth converse, and deep thought: 
And the man’s joy itself were surely proof 

Of some strange secret which his soul hath found, 
Which works within him like a potent wine. 

And now farewell: the sky flames with the dawn 
And the pale moon fades at the rising sun. 

E’en so, if this strange Syrian tale be true, 

Shall the Anointed brighten all the East 

And our clear moonlight yield to radiant Dawn. 
Hath not the moon herself a borrowed glow, 

Nor grudgeth yielding to the Source of Light ? 


215 


APPENDIX II 


SOME BUDDHIST PRAYERS AND VOWS 
A. FROM MODERN BURMA 


A Mownk’s PRAveEr!® 


Awgatha, Awgatha, I worship with the body, with the mouth, and 
with the mind, with these three “kans.” The first, the second, the 
third; once, twice, until three times. The Lord, the precious one; 
the Law, the precious one; the Assembly, the precious one—these 
three precious things. I, the worshiper, most humbly, with fervid 
zeal, with clasped hands, pay reverence, give offerings, and with pious 
gaze bow medown. Thus by this worshiping I gain merit and increase 
in earnestness and purity of heart, and am freed from the Four States 
of Punishment; from the Three Evil Things, starvation, plague, and 
warfare; from the Eight Chambers of Hell; and from the Five Enemies. 
And at the end, when the last existence has come for me, may I pass 
into Nirvana. 


B. FROM INDIA 


THE Kino or Vows? 


When I attain to be Buddha—I will not accept Buddhahood if all 
who believe in integrity of heart and long to be born into my Kingdom 
are not born therein. Nay, if even they who think on me ten times 
be not born therein will I not enter; nay, more, if all save they who 
are guilty of the deadly sins enter not in, neither will I enter upon 


Buddhahood. 
C. FROM CHINA 


A LaAyYMAN’s PRAYER TO KwaAnyin3 


Mother of Pity, hear my prayer, 
That in the endless round of birth 
No more may break my heart on earth, 


1From Shway Yoe (J. G. Scott), The Burman: His Life and Notions, I, 223. 
London: Macmillan & Co., 1882. 

2 The eighteenth vow of Dharmakara Bhikkhu, later to become Amitabha Buddha. 
See S.B.E., Vol. XLIX, Part II, pp. 15, 73. 

3 Translated by L. Cranmer Byng in 4 Feast of Lanterns from a tomb on Fu Kin 
Mountain in the Kiang Su province. 


216 


APPENDICES 217 


Nor by the windless waters of the Blest 
Weary of rest; 

That drifting, drifting, I abide not anywhere. 
Yet if by Karma’s law I must 

Resume this mantle of the dust, 

Grant me, I pray 

One dew-drop from thy willow spray 

And in the double lotus keep 

My hidden heart asleep. 


D. FROM CHINA 
A Monx’s PraverR TO KwanyIn? 


I am indeed filled with thankfulness that it has been granted me to 
know the Buddha’s way of salvation; but although I am a monk and 
have abandoned the world, I am bitterly conscious that my heart is 
not yet penetrated with the truth. I am sorely lacking in true knowl- 
edge, and have many vain thoughts and wrong opinions. I am deficient 
in the moral force necessary for spiritual advancement. I study the 
scriptures with diligence and yet I am incapable of fully understanding 
and assimilating their holy wisdom. I fear that few blessings are in 
store for me, that my life is destined to be cut short, and that I have 
devoted myself all in vain to the religious life. I have wasted my days, 
and dare hope for nothing but a spendthrift’s death. Behold, in my 
longing to purify this heart of mine, I am shedding tears of anguish. 
In reverence and humiliation I kneel before Thee; day and night my 
thoughts dwell on Thy holy countenance. I hold fast to Thy holy 
name, and prostrate myself before Thy sacred image. Incline Thy 
heavenly ear, O Pusa, to hearken unto me; of Thy divine love save 
me from misery; grant me Thy pity and Thy protection; let Thy 
spiritual light shine upon my body and illumine my heart. Baptize 
me with Thy sweet dew, so that it may wash away all stains of hatred 
and ill-will, cleanse me from all sin and foulness, and make me pure in 
thought and deed. Guard me both day and night from all evil. 
Be ever with me, O Pusa, when I wake and when I sleep. Grant that 
my understanding may awaken under the rays of Thy glory. Grant 
that I may increase in spiritual intelligence and discernment. Grant 
that when I read the scriptures the words may remain stored in my 


t From R, F. Johnston, Buddhist China, pp. 309-11. 


218 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


memory, and that when the sacred truths are expounded I may have 
wisdom to understand them. May I be endowed with good judgment 
and insight; may my days be long; may I attain happiness and peace; 
may I ever be absorbed in the contemplation of Thy truth; may evil 
spirits keep far from me; may I awaken to a clear perception of the 
futility of living through generation after generation without spiritual 
progress; may I walk in the way of the pusas; may I show gratitude for 
all mercies; may I put my trust in the Buddha, the Law, and the com- 
pany of the saints; and wherever the Law holds sway, may all living 
beings attain union in the perfect wisdom that leads to the peace of 
Buddhahood. 
E. FROM CHINA 


THe Vow or A MAHAYANA Monk 


I shall never cherish any thought of breaking the precepts which I 
have now accepted. From today up to the attainment of Buddhahood 
I shall never cherish any idea of pride toward the elders..... I 
shall never arouse any angry thought toward any fellow-being.... . 
I shall never envy any others their bodily excellence or beauty. 

. I shall never arouse arrogant thought concerning all things, 
whether subjective or objective..... I shall never accumulate 
wealth for my own sake but give out all that I shall receive to help 
poor and suffering people. .... I shall practise the four embracing 
methods (sangraha) not only for myself but for the sake of all beings, 
and thus, being free from attachment, never being weary (of my 
work), and being without any entanglement in the mind, shall embrace 
all fellow-beings into the same communion. .... Whenever I shall 
meet any unfortunate people, orphans, deserted, imprisoned, or suffer- 
ing from various mishaps and tribulations I shall never leave them 
unhelped nor stop until they be saved and freed from sufferings, 
through righteous means..... Whenever I shall see any people 
offending rules of decency or committing crimes, I shall never pass 
them by without trying to correct them, but try to persuade or coerce 
them, according to the degree and nature of the offences. For per- 
suasion and coercion are the methods of perpetuating righteousness; 
and when righteousness is perpetuated, the beings in the heavenly 
resorts grow in number while those in the woeful resorts diminish, 
and thus the wheel of truth will perpetually be turned, to the benefit 
of all beings; 7.) e. I shall never cease to embrace the perfect truths, 


APPENDICES 219 


since thus, and thus alone, we can remain mindful of the Buddha, the 
Communion and the Paramitas. 

Now let me take the vow to save innumerable fellow-beings and 
to attain the perfectly right view of truth throughout all my coming 
lives. Let me take the vow to preach the truth to all without ceasing, 
on having realized the perfect truth. Let me take the vow, for 
the sake of embracing the perfect truth, to dedicate my body, my life 
and my wealth to guarding the truth. 


F. FROM JAPAN 


Two Prayers FoR THE Deap!? 
I | 

Praised be the Buddha Amitabha (Namu Amida Butsu)! 

This monument is erected in memory of the men and animals, 
whether friends or foes, who fell in the campaigns of the 23rd and 24th 
year of Oei (commencing on the 6th of the 1oth month). Do you, 
priests and lay believers, offer your sincere prayers to the Buddha 
Amitabha in behalf of the dead. 

I 

On the 15th of the 8th month in the 2nd year of Keicho, at Nangen 
in the Zenra Do, several thousands of soldiers of the Ming Army laid 
down their lives, among whom 420 were killed by the Japanese troops 
under my direct command. 

On the 1st of the roth month more than eighty thousand men of 
the same hostile army were killed at Shisen in the Keisho Do. 

May the Buddhas bestow protection upon each soul, who took part on 
either side and found his last resting place in Korea, being loyal to the 
end to his own fatherland! 

In those different engagements the slain on both sides numbered 
over three thousand, and those who died of disease or lost their lives 
by some accident either on land or sea were too numerous to count. 


G. FROM CHINA 
CONFESSION OF SHANTAO (ZENDO) 


Be merciful unto me, nor count my iniquities which are as the grass 
for multitude. Receive my confession and accept me. Past sin— 
may it be blotted out; sins of the future may they never be sinned. 


11416 A.D. and 1599 A.D., respectively. 


220 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Past good—may it increase; good yet undone—may it come to the 
birth. Saith the Buddha, “I am manifested to destroy sin; declare 
ye, therefore, your sins of unbelief in former births, make confession 
to the Elder Brethren, prostrate yourselves and your eyes will be opened 
to behold the shining form of the Buddha in glory.” 


H. FROM INDIA 
A ConFEssIon! 


The disciple shall enumerate his sins in former lives from eternity 
until now—sins in deed, thought, and word, whether he has himself 
committed them or caused others to do so or rejoiced at their com- 
mission; such sins are cursing, envy, lying, cheating, and unbelief. 
Let him say, “I confess before the Buddhas of the ten regions. I will 
not commit such offenses either in this world or in worlds to come. I 
dare not deceive him, the all-seeing; I dare not cover my iniquities: 
nay, henceforth forever I dare not commit these sins.” 


™ Translated into Chinese by Anshikao (148-70 A.D.). 


APPENDIX III 


SYNONYMS OF NIBBANA AND NIRVANA IN THE 
THERAVADA AND THE MAHAYANA 


I, IN THE PALI BOOKS 


Negative 
Extinction of lust (Tanhakkhayo) 
Destruction of passion (Virago) 
Extinction of becoming (Bhavani- 
rodho) 
Extinction of rebirth (Jatikkhayo) 
Destruction of sorrow (Dukkhak- 


khayo) 
Endless state (Anantam) 
Uncompounded state (Asam- 
khatam) 


Uncreated (Akhatam) 
Sorrowless (Asokham) 
Ineffable (Anakkhatam) 
Abstract (Nipunam) 
Formless (Arupam) 


II. IN THE SANSKRIT 


Negative 
Non-duality 
Incomprehensibleness 
Unchangeableness 
Absolute void (Siinyata) 
Inaction 
Not falling back 
Formlessness 
Undefiled state 
Immovableness 
Without sign or token 
The invisible 


Positive 

Ambrosia (Amatam) (lit.: “not 
dead”’) 

Bliss (Sivam) 
Freedom (Vimutti) 
Purity (Suddhi) 
Refuge (Lenam) (Saranam) 
Simple state (Dhuvam) 
Calm (Santi) 
Island (Dipam) 
Coolness (Sitibhitam) 
Truth (Saccam) 
Supreme (Param) 
Everlasting (Accutam) 
Security (Yogakkhema) 


AND CHINESE BOOKS 
Positive 

Reality 

Truth 

Absolute 

Supreme good 

Enjoyment 

Fulness 

Home 

Sameness 

Honorable state 

Ease 


Unique 


p22 EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


The unthinkable 

The unparalleled 

The unfettered 

The indestructible 

The unworried 

The infallible 

Being without remnant 

Neither going nor coming 

Escape from Mara, sorrow, re- 
birth, etc. 

Neither single nor double 

Without beginning or end 


Purity 

The far shore 

Nectar 

Excellent 

City of peace 

Suchness (Tathata) 

Ideal world 

Wisdom (Prajiia) 
Buddhahood 

The womb of Buddhahood 


Deliverance 


“No measure is there for the being freed, 
By which to speak and think upon his state, 
For wholly done away are ways of thought, 
Blocked are the channels of our daily speech.” 


—Sutta Nipata. 


“Trackless as birds upon the viewless air, 
In Emptiness the Saints find Liberty.” 


—Theragatha. 


“Nirvana is neither death nor destruction, but Bliss, 
Freedom and Purity.” —Lankdvatara. 


APPENDICES IV-VI 

CHARTS OF THE BUDDHIST SCHOOLS OF 
INDIA, CHINA, AND JAPAN 

APPENDIX IV 


THREE GREAT SCHOOLS OF THE HINAYANA 


TABLE I* 


Theravada or 
Sthavira 


Semi-realists: The world 
and consciousness are 
real, but are an ever 
changing flux — “un- 
real” from the stand- 
point of eternity. The 
Arhat cannot lapse. 
Gotama, a real historic 
person 

Chief books} Kathavatthu 
expounding 

differentia 


Chief beliefs — 


Chief 
nents 


expo-| Tissa or Upagupta; 
Buddhaghosa, etc. 


Subsects 


Sautrantika, Sarvastiva- 
dino, and others 


Sarvastivada 
(A Subsect of the First) 


Realists both as to the 


phenomenal and the 
noumenal, but in the 
Sautrantika subsect an 
idealistic tendency. 
The Arhat can lapse. 
Gotama a real historic 
person 


1. Fidna-prasthana 

2. Maha Vibhasa (early 
third cent. A.D.) 

3. Abhidharmakosa 

4. Divyadvadina 

Katyayaniputra 

Vasubandhu 

Sanghabhadra 

Hiuen-Tsiang (in part) 

Fu Kuang and Fa Pao 


(Chinese commenta- 
tors on Abhidharma- 
kosa) 
A. Gandhara Abhidhar- 
mikas 
Kasmira Abhidhar- 
mikas 


(Using Textbook 1) 
B. Vaibhasika Sdastrins 

(Using Textbook 2) 
C. Neo-Vaibhasika Sa- 

strins 

(Using Textbook 3) 

1. Sautrantikas 

2. Orthodox Abhid- 


harmikas 


Mahasanghika 


Idealistic: devel- 
oped Bodhisattva 
doctrine; docetic 
view of Gotama 


Portions of Mahé- 
vastu 


Lokottaravada and 
seven others 





* After Takakusu and others. 


223 


224 


I. 


Name 


Ch’an 


APPENDIX V 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Buppuist Sects or CHINA 


TABLE II* 


Founder or 
Introducer 


Tamo, 526 A.D. 


II. Chiao-men (so| Tao Hsuan, 595- 


att; 


called by I) 
Book sects 

@) Li 

b) Tient’ ai 


667 A.D. 


Chi-i, d. 597 A.D. 


c) Hsien-Shou| Buddha-bhadra, 


or Hua Yen 
a) Tz’u-En or 


Fa Hsiang 
e) Ching T’u 


Absorbed or 
defunct 
a) Chu She 


6) Cheng Shih 


c) San Lun 


a) Mior Chen 
Yen 


fourth cent. 
Hstian Chuang 


Hui Yuan, 
333-416 A.D. 


Paramartha, 
§63 A.D.; 
Hiuen-Tsiang, 
564 A.D. 
Kumiarajiva, 
402 A.D. 


Kumiarajiva, 
402 A.D. 
Vajrabodhi, 
eighth cent. 


Chief Scriptures 


Vajracchedika 
and 


Prajna paramita 


Sutras 


Vinaya 


Prajna paramita 
Saddharma Pun- 


darika 
Nirvana Sitra 


Hua Yén Ching 


(Avatamsaka 
Sitra) 
Wei Shih Lun 


Three Amitabha 


scriptures 


O-phi-Tamo 
Ku-sho-Lun 
(Abhidhar- 
makosa) 
Chan-shih-lun 


Nagarjuna’s 


three chief works 


Ta-Fih-Cheng 
(Maha 
Vairochana 
Sambodhi 
sastra) and 
Mandaras 


Chief Characteristics, etc. 


Meditation. This sect “‘has 


practically absorbed all the 
rest” (Encycl. Sinica). (Cf. 
Zenshu in Japanese sects.) 
It teaches that the Buddha 
or Dharmakaya is in the 
heart 

Monastic discipline and as- 
ceticism. (Cf. Ris-shu in 
Japanese sects) 


Harmony of teachings, pan- 
theistic realism. (See 
Tendai in Japanese sects) 


(Cf. Kegon 
sects) ® 


in Japanese 


Scholastic philosophy, ide- 
alism 

Pietistic devotion to Omi- 
tof6; salvation by faith. 
(Cf. odo in Japanese sects) — 
Philosophical; semi-materi- 
alistic. (See Kusha in 
Japanese sects) 


Philosophical; “‘nihilistic.” 

(See Fojitsu in Japanese 
sects) 

Philosophical nihilism. (See 
Sanron in Japanese sects) 
Symbolic paMtheism, eso- 
teric and mystical; magic. 
(See Shingon in Japanese 

sects) 





* After Hackmann and Encyclopedia Sinica. 


APPENDIX VI 


TWELVE SEcTs oF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 























eee 
Kushat Jojitsut Ris-shut Hossd Sanron Kegon Tendai | Jédoshu and Shinshu Nichirenshu Shingon Zen 
i eae car Sepa Moralist and disciplinary Subjective idealism; only | Nihilism: _ ° Pantheistic idealism a OPanchiene realism As Tendai, but evangelical and | As Tendai, pantheistic realism; Mystical Cosmotheism: Intuitional quietism: 
<3 SEEN <8 So an thought real Truth is inconceivable pietistic; Sukhavati, reached three esoteric laws Tantra; Vairochana in all The Buddha is in the heart 


Skandhas real 


ee 


No Skandhas 


Chief books: 
Vasubandhu’s Abhidharma 
Kass, BIN. 19Gt: ss Harivarman’s Sdatyasiddhi Sdas- 
tra: B.N., 1274 
Translator: 
Paramartha, A.D. 563; Hiuen 
tsiahes 504). soca ate se Kuméarajiva, 411-12 A.D. 
Introduced into Japan, A.D...... Nara Period 


658 (in the later translation) .... 
Supplementary notes and com- 
parisons with western thought 

and Indian schools: 
Phenomena transient but real; 
cf. Hume; Sarvastioada...... 


aa EeS IR 9 0 Sr ne eee EE 
* After Bunjio Nanjio and Fujishima. 


552 


Phenomena like the waves of an 
imaginary ocean; cf. Fichte; 
Nastikas 


+ Extinct. 


Dharmagupta’s Vinaya; B.N., 
iiety 


ce 6) aire)» (ee we 0: 6) 's 0) 604. #0) 6’ OXe ee jee 6 elere 


Nara Period 


352 


As in early Buddhism monastic 
discipline is all important; cf. 
Benedict 


Avatamsaka Sitra; B.N., 87 


Buddha bhadra, 317-420 A.D.; 
Sikshananda, 695-699 A.D. 


Nara Period 


653, 712, and later 


Thought is the ocean; phe- 
nomena waves upon its sur- 
face; cf. Lotze, Yogacara 


Nagarjuna’s Mdadhyamaka Sas- 
ia: “BING 1199 


0), 6 16 0.06 0 6 0, a1 e 606600, 0 6.8 6 6 6 00 6 


Asuka Period 


625 from Korea; eighth cent. 
from India 


Phenomena imaginary waves on 
an unknowable ocean; cf. 
Herbert Spencer and Eck- 
hart; Madhyamaka 


Avatamsaka Sitra; B.N., 87-89 | Saddharma Pundarika; 


Buddha bhadra, 317-420 AD; 
Sikshananda, 695-99 A.D. 


Nara Period 


1367 


Cf. Schelling 


B.N., 


133-39; Nirvana Sutra; B. 


N., 113 


Heian Period 


805, Dengyo (Saicho) 


Phenomena real by virtue of 
the indwelling Tathata; cf. 
Hegel 


by merit and grace; (Jado) by 
grace alone (Shin) 


Sukhavati Vyihas; B.N., 27; 
Amitayur Dhyana Sitra; B. 
N., 198 


Larger Sukhavati Vyiha by 
Sanghavarman, 252 A.D.; 
smaller by Kuméarajiva, 411 
A.D.; Amitayur Dhyana Sitra, 
424 A.D. 

Kamakura Period 


Separated from Tendai by 
Honen, 1133-1212; by Shin- 
ran, 1173-1262 


Cf. St. Francis; the Wesleys; 
the Christian pietists 


Saddharma Pundarika 


The Mandaras are its picture- 
books; Mahdvairochana Sam- 
bodht Sitra; B.N., 530 


and mind 


Scriptures are unnecessary; all 
nature is a book 


0 0 cl 6 0 0 0:0 606 0 0 66 0 0 ais 5 0 6 061d 06 lis 500 66 C0 0019 66 6,8 O10 5S Sis 6) V Oe (9) e 5 ame ge ee ee Ore eee ee ee eee 


Kamakura Period 


Developed by Nichiren, 1222- 
82 * 


Cf. O.T. prophets; Savonarola; 
Dominic 


Kéyasan in Miyako Period 


Kikai (K6b3), 806 


Men can become one with the 
Source of all—Vairochana, 
and can by mystic Miadra 
and Dharani realize the 
potencies of the universe. 
Blended with Shintd as 
Rydbu [mixed] Shintd. Cf. 
Fechner, Swedenborg 


Kamakura Period 


Iosen, 729; Eisai, 1168; Dogen, 
1228; Ingen, 1660 (in slightly 
different forms) 


The school of Tamo teaching 
the practice of intuitive con- 
templation. So we realize 
our oneness with Nature. 


Cf. the Mystics, Wordsworth 





ny 
© Ca Mj 
of bias 


a 


4 th ; an | 4 
¥ Las Fs | ri 


hha ae i 


‘<a 
7 





INDEX 


Abbots, 204; see K’an-po 


Abhidhamma, 12 n., 34, 30, 44, 107, 
PEt SiS. ais) 


Abhidhamma Sangaha, 111 

AbhidharmakoSa, 43 

Abhififia, 20, 109, 117; see Meditation 

Abhisekha (baptism), 78, 172, 191 

Absolute, 72, 83, 98, 100, 146, 149, 
196; transcendence of, 102; Truth 
(Dharmakaya), 72, 79, 84 (Shintai), 
175; Void, 81; within, 80; see 
Tathata 

Acchuta, 17, 221 

Accommodated truth, 168 

Acolytes, 159 

Adana, 95; see Alaya 

Adi-Buddha, First Cause, xv, xix, 193, 

_ 194, 196, 197, 203 

Adi-dharma, 197 

Adi-prajfia, 197 

Aditthana (persistency), 91 

Agama period, 147 

Agavamsa, IIT Nn. 

Agra (original essence), 62 

Aisvarikas, 197 

Aizen, god of love, 152 n.; see Kong- 
osatta 

Ajatasattu, 29, 85 

Akazome Emon, 80 

Akhatam, 221 

Akshobya, 194 

Akuto-bhaya, 17 

Alaya, 94, 95, 193 

Alayavijfiana, xv, 94, 96, 98 

Alexander, 47 

Alexandria, 107 

Alphabet, 156; Indian script, 198 

Altruism, 19, 22 

Amatam, 17, 221 

Amaterasu, 167, 170n., 189 

Amida, 170, 177; Nyorai, 
Society, 173 

Amitabha, 58, 59, 60, 78, 126, 159, 
194; books, 159; Buddha, Paradise 


174; 


227 


of, xviii, xix, 59, 100, 126; cult, 83, 
84; Pure Land of Bliss, 85; schools, 
140; scriptures, 170; sects, 125, 
131; Triad, 156 

Amitayu, 59 

Amitayur-dyhana Stira, xix, 85, 87, 
93, 125, 195 

Amitayus-Sutropadesa, 127 

Amogha, 151 

Amoghasiddhi, 194 

Amoghavajra, 151 n., 185 

Anakkhatam (ineffable), 221 

Analects, 123 


Ananda, 25, 35, 58, 78, 87; second 
patriarch, 137 


Anantam, 221 

Anatta, xiv, 6, 10, 12, 53, 72, 110, IIT, 
136 

Anawrata, 110, III, 113 

Ancestor cults, 38 

Anesaki, Dr. M., ix, xn., 19n., 59n., 
61, 91, 97 N., 139, 163, 175 n., 184; 
Buddhist Art, 152n.; Nichiren, 2 n., 
60, 146 n. 

Anguttara Nikdéya, 33, 38 

Anicca, xiv, 72, 80, 110, 111, 136 

Animism, 111, 120, 128, 192 

Annihilation, 14, 15 n., 16 n., 110 

Annihilists, 16, 18 

Anshikao, 58, 125, 126 

Antoninus Pius, 125 n. 

Anuradhapura, 89 n., 105, 106 

Anuruddha, 111 

Anussati (ten recollections), 116 

Apocalypse, 62 

Arahatta, 14 

ae Buddhist, 163; of China, 
164 


Arhat, 14, 21, 25, 31, 37, 43) 53, 54, 
172, .107) ideal xvi) t24.. 547° vin 
Nibbana, xvii 

Arhats (Lohan), 158 

Arhatship, xiv, xviii, 9, 35, 433 
candidates for, 64; four stages of, 
44, 123; ideal of, 54 


228 


Arimaddana, 110, 114; see Pagan 

Art, 30, 76, 151, 166, 190; Buddhist, 
69, 152, 163; Graeco-Buddhist, 68; 
religious, 164; schools of, 165; of 
temples, 158 

Artists, 209 

Arupam, 221 

Asamkhatam, 221 

Asanga, 93, 94, 97, 151, 198 

Asceticism, 4, 24 

Asia, Southeastern, 112, I14, 117, I19 

Asoka, xviii, 31, 32, 37, 39, 41, 44, 47; 
48, 69, 105, 106, 122 n., 164; monu- 
ments of, 88; see Vardhana 

Asokan, era, xiii; laity, xix; 
tures, X1x, 41 

Asokham, 221 

Asubhabhavana, 116 

Asvaghoga, 56, 57, 97, 131; twelfth 
patriarch, 137 

Atheist, 25 

Atisa, 202; reforms of, 205 

Atman (soul), xvi, 6, 10; supreme, 
xvi, 26; unreal, 83 

Atonement, x 

Attachment, 124 

Attention, 116; see Kasina 

Augustine, 131, 150; of Canterbury, 
163 

Avalokitesvara, 60, 66, 76, 86, 88, 126, 
167, 170n., 193 (Padmap§ani), 194, 
197 

Avalokitesvara-guna-K arandavytha, 
194 

Avatamsaka Sitra, xiv, xix, 47, 70, 71, 
72, 78, 83, 147, 168, 199 n.; Nagar- 
juna’s Commentary on, 131; schools, 
168 

Avatar, 196 

Avijja, 22 

“Awakening of Faith,” 68, ror, 146, 
159 


Balkh, 48 

Baptism, 153; see Abhisekha; for the 
dead, 191 

Bar-nag, 202 

‘Baskets, Three,” 34; Third, of Higher 
Religion, 39 

Beal, 75 n. 


sculp- 


EKPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Becoming, xvi, 17; extinction of 
(Bhavanirédho), 221 

Begging bowls, 117 

Being, xvi, 78; delusion of, 94; 
Eternal, 102; illusion of, 96 

Bendall, Rouse and, 102 n. 

Benevolence, 116; see Mettam, Brah- 
mavihara 

Bhagavadgitd, 51, 99 n. 

Bhaisajyaraja, Bhesajyaraja, 66, 152 

Bhakti, 24, 25; saving faith, 54 

Bhava-nirddho, 17, 221 

Bhikkhu, 28, 35, 109; Ge-long, 204; 
monk, 115; Upagupta, 30 

Bhikshu, 171 

Bhikshu Dharmakara, 90 

Bhimis, ten, 44 

Bhutan, 192 

Bigandet, Bishop, 16 

Bihar, conquest of, 73 

Bimbisara, 29 

Binzuru, 152 

Births, former, 39 

Blake, William, 158 

Blessed One, 89 

Blood-offerings, 209 

Bodhi, 22, 79, 80, 94; final enlighten- 
ment, 77, 92; Supreme Reality, 96 

Bodhi-Citta, 98, 100, 103 

Bodhicaryavatara, 103 

Bodhidharma, 134, 150; see P’uti 
Tamo; twenty-eighth patriarch, 
137 

Bodhiruci, 126 

Bodhisattva, xiv, xvi, xvii, xviii, 21, 
31, 37, 44, 52, 70, 89, 107, 130, 132, 
158 (Posal), 169; theory of, 1096; 
Aryavalokitesvara, 77; ideal, 37, 
124, 147, 166; stages of, 96 

Bodhiséna, 167 

Body, 9, 11, 83, 116; accommodated, 
95; see Nirmanakaya; glorified, 95; 
see Sambhogakaya 


Bon Matsuri, 128 
Bon, 200 


“Book of Great Events,” 43; see 
Mahdvastu 


Bo-tree, sacred, 106 


INDEX 229 


Brahma, 25, 26, 40, 51; ‘‘Net of,” 32; 
union with, 36 

Brahmajala Sutia, 35 

Brahman, xvi, 6, 22, 25, 26, 196; 
absolute, 52, 99 n. 

Brahmanism, vii 

Brahmavihara, 116 

Brahmins, 26, 29, 35, 56, 77 

Branding, of the scalp, 133 

Breathing, deep, 116 

Brethren, offerings to, 129 


Buddha, 2, 6n., 9, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24, 


Buddhist, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 48; 


art, 41, 42, 153, 163; books, 154; 
civilization, 31; doctrine, 32, 54, 
127; India, 131; life of the Founder, 
35; Pantheon, 84, 128, 156, 206; 
philosophy, 121, 131, 151; prayers 
and vows, 216; religion, 116; 
scholasticism, 96; schools, 186, 223; 
temples, 176; theology, 192 


Buddhists, 25; Psalms of the Early, 8 
Buddhology, xviii, 9, 38, 45, 58, 60, 


69, 83, 95; transcendental, 46 


Burd, 295030, £00, 110.4 TTA. 110; 


54; birth-stories of the, 32, 34n., 
39, 44; in bliss, 99; epic, 56; as 
Father, 61; festival of the tooth of, 
119; healing, 152; image of, 113, 
141; in Kenosis, 99; Land, 71; of 
the Lotus, 67; Maitri, 153; Ma- 
itreya, 194; person of, 124; sin- 
less, 37; the Sun, 71; take refuge 
i ate) LnCOTY: OF “T003* two 
bodies, 83 

Buddha Carita, 57, 97 
Buddha-nature, 158, 182, 187 


Buddhaghosa, 6, 36, 41, 42, 53, 89, 
108, II0 


Buddhas, eighty-one, 59; Living, 209 


Buddhism, 34 n.; Absolute in, xvi; in 
Burma, 112; Christian, 179; coun- 
cil for new, 49; discussion of, 11, 31; 
doctrine of transiency in, xiv; early, 
79; early missionaries of, 47; 
eighteen schools of, 21; essence of, 
17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; evolution of, 
35; goal of, 99; of Gotama, 137; 
influence on, 56; Japanese, 162, 
163,172,177; Korean, 160; knowl- 
edge of, 40; Mantra, 172; national 
religion, 30; Nepal, 192, 194; New, 
the, 155; new phase of, 52; origi- 
nal, xili, 8; primitive, xv; religion, 
88; Sakta, xiv; Sanskrit, 103; 
Scholastic, ton.; Shingon, 181; 
Siamese, 113; in Southeastern 
Asia, 112; state religion, 164; of 
Tamo, 137; Tantric, 97, 159, 185; 
teachings of, xvi; Tendai, 181; 
Tibetan, 192, 198; T’ien T’ai, 148; 
universal, 100; vindication of 
Christianity, x; Vijidnavada, 72 
Buddhism in Translations, xix, 2 0., 
Aen. & Drees. tA Ouse LO 1)., 
35 0. 


Buddhism national religion, 112 
Burmese, 111 
Burnouf, 194 
Burnt-offerings, 171 
Byng, L. Cranmer, 74, 216 n. 


Cakkavatti, universal monarch, 31 

Calmness, 116; see Yoga 

Canon, Pali, 21, 36, 40, 58; of 
Buddhism, 32, 33; of the Elders, 


43; formation of a, 44; of the 
Mahasanghikas, 43 


Canon Tibetan, 199; see Ka-gyur 
Caste, 57, 119 


Causality, ix; doctrine of, 2, 4, 6; 
Law of, 3, 29 


Causation, Law of, 35 

Causa causans, xv 

Cause, 1 

Celibacy, 179 

Ceylon, 23, 31, 34, 56, 106, 109, 114, 
119, 131, 154; Buddhism, 105; 
chronicle, 33, 47; commentator, 88; 
customs, 89; monks of, viii; 
Sangha of, 113; School of the 
Elders, xiv; Vattagamini of, 41; 
Viharas of, 96, 107 

Chaitya, 112 

Chan, Buddhism, 145; school, 139 n., 
142, 154; teachings, 159 

Chandrakirti, 81, 102 

Chang-an, 120, 130, 131, 154, 168, 185 

Changchow, 154 

Chan-ra-zi, 203 

Chavannes, 134 

Chekiang, 145 


Chi-i, xiv, 134, 145, 149, 150, 163, 172 


230 


Chi-che-ta-shih, 150 

Chi-Kai, 145; see Chi-i 

Childers, 16 

Chil Sun, 158 

China, 21, 23, 66, 69, 83, 91, 92, 93, 
102, 106, /120, 124,132,153 

Chinese, Buddhist sects of, 224; Chan, 
145; pilgrims, 131; religion, 120; 
Turkestan, 128; versions, 100 

Chiram (eternity), 62 

Chisha, 191 

Christ, 67, 99, 196; gospel of, 210; 
see Sambhogakaya 

Christian missionary, 86n.; Science, 
191; theology, 196 

Christianity, vii, x, 186; and Bud- 
dhism, x; in Korea, 162 

Christology, 99 

Chronicles, Buddhist, 48 n.; 
105 

Chrysostom, 131 

Citta (mind), 94 

Citta-pasada, 24 

Cittassa ekaggata (see Conscious- 
ness), 116 . 

Clement of Alexandria, 127 

Code of discipline, 117 

Columba, 135 

Commentaries, 108 

Compassion, 114, 116; see Mettam, 
Karuna 

““Compendium,” 103, III n. 


Confession, public, 117; of Shantao, 
220 


island, 


Confucius, 120, 185 
Consciousness, act of, 45; unification 
of, 116 


Contemplation, 52; 
dead, 116 


Contemplative power (dhyana), 194 
Coomaraswamy, A. K., 34 n. 
Cosmic process, 50; life, 71 

Cram, R. A., 164 

Creative power, 71 

Cult, theistic, 126 

Culture, Indian, 69 

Cryptomerias, 170 

Cyrus, 47 


see Yoga; of 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Dagoba, Abhayagiri, 107; Ruanweli, 
107 

Dagobas, 105 

Daibutsu, at Nara, 167 

Daimoku, 183, 184 

Dainichi, 189; see Vairochana 

Dainichi-kyé, 186 

Dalai Lama, 197, 204 

Dana (charity), 91 

Darius Hystaspes, 47 


Dead, offerings to, in Israel, 129 n.; 
veneration for the, 128 


Death, 116 

De Groot, 120 n., 132 
De la Vallée Poussin, 193 
Deliverance, 1 
Demonism, 192 


Detachment, 65, 116; see Asubhab- 
havana 


Deuteronomic reforms, 129 n. 

Devadatta, 65 

Devas, 70 

Dhamma, xvi, T, 3; 4; 8, 9, 31, 45, 
105, 106, 119, 120; code of the, 30; 
King of the, 18, 22, 24, 37; spread 
of the, 29, 31, 33; universality of 
the, 29 

Dhammapada, 7, 38, 80, 89, 103 

Dhammasenapati, 111 n. 

Dhammata, 146 

Dhammayut, 119 

Dharani (charms), 153 

Dharma, 26, 163 

Dharmakara, 59, 91 

Dharmakaya, xix, 57, 72, 83, 84, 95, 
98, 99, IOI, 150, 189, 196 

Dharmapala, 201 

Dharmaparyayas, 201 

Dharmaraksha, 128; see Ku Fa Hu 

Dharmas, Nine, 193; real, 83 

Dhuvam, 221 

Dhyana (meditation), 148, 172, 194; 
teaching, 138, 159; school, 139, 160 

Dhyani-Bodhisattvas, 194 

Dhyani-Buddha, 152, 194, 196 

Diamond Mountains, 157 

Digha Nikaya, 35 

Dipam, 17, 221 


INDEX 


Dipankara, 59, 88 

Dipawamsa, 105 

Disciple, 23 

Disciples, 9, 16, 65; five hundred, 61 

Disgust, 116; see Asubhabhavana 

Divine Order, 151 

““Docetism,” 62 n. 

Doctrine, Duadkaya, 83; of the 
Dharmakaya, 72; exoteric, 188; 
Three Periods, 83; of Siinyatd, 72 


Donran, 177 

Dor-ji, 192, 201 
Déoshaku, 177 

Dosho, 168 

Dpal-bangs, 199 
Duakaya doctrine, 83 
Dukkha, 111 
Dukkha-kkhaya, 17, 221 
Dukkham, ‘‘sorrow,” 7 
Dutthagamini, 106, 113 


‘Earth Womb,” 152 n. 

Edict, Bhabra, 33; Asokan, 34 

Edicts, 31, 32n., 41; Seven Pillar, 33 

Edmunds, 37 n. 

Education, 114 

Ego, unreality of, 165 

Egoism, 19, 22 

‘Eight Noes,” 78, 187 

‘‘Eight Victories, Song of the,” 118 

Eighteen, schools, 21 

Eightfold Noble Path, 15, 19, 110 

Elara, 106 

“‘Emanations,” 189, 195; 
theory of, 196 

Emerson, 18 

Emptiness, 77; doctrine of, 165 


Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 
Zien 1. 15 N., 36'N., 50 n., 
Ratio, 73.0., 79 0., 81 n., 
g2 n. 


Energy, 11 


Enlightenment, perfect, 59, 65, 90, 923 
moment of, 70; terrace of, 63 


En-riaku, 169 

Epic, 57 

Equanimity, 116; see Upekkha 
Equilibrium, of morals (see Sila), 20 


Buddhist 


231 


Eternal, the, 83; 
178; Light, 62 
Eternalists, 16 


Ethic for laymen, 118; 
Mangala Sutta 


Ethical, system, 19 

Ethics, Confucian, 121, 151 

Evolution, 180 

Existence, 72; annihilation of, 16; 
bodily, 4, 5 n.; of phenomenal world, 
81; prolonging, 36, 41 

Exorcism, 112 

Experiences, mystical, 18, 19 


King, 174; Life, 


see Maha 


Fa-Hian, 29, 34, 48, 49, 58, 88, 106, 
107, 131; in Lanka, 211 

Faith, xviii, 190; Awakening of, 97, 99; 
doctrine of, 88; in righteousness, 3 
(see Saddha), 23; saved by, 100, 180 


Fan-W an-King, 132, 133 

Farquhar, J. N., 49, 67, 108 n. 

Father-God, 210 

Fear, 77 

Fetters, Ten, 20 

Fire-sermon, 33 

First Cause, Io1, 194 

‘Five Periods,” 147, 160 

“Five Points,” 43 

Folklore, of India, 88 

Founder, xili, xvi, 34, 39; symbols of, 
4I 

‘Four guardians,” 170 n., 176 

Four stages of Arhatship, 123 

Fourth Gospel, 67 

Fo-t’u-cheng, 127 

Francis, St.,173; Buddhist (see Honen) 
174 

Free will, 119 

Freedom (mutti), 17; attained, 124 

Fud6, 170, 171 

Fugen, 168; see Samantabhadra 

Fu Hsi, 121 

Fujiyama, Mount, 144 n. 

Fu-kien, 169 


Gandhara, 42, 47, 52, 68; art of, 48; 
king of, 49 

Gandharan sculptures, xix, 41, 92, 97 

Ganges Valley, 2, 120 


232 


Garbha Dhatu (Taizdkai), 188; Man- 
dara, 189 


Gathas, 70, 176 

Gautama, 36 

Gaya Head, 5 

Geisha, 168 

Gelug-pa monks, 202 

Genku, 177; see Hoénen 

Genshin, 173 

Gestures (miidras), 151, 171; magi- 
cal, 172 

Ge-snen, 204 

Getty, Miss, 207 

Gila, 67 

Gobi, 73 

God, Hananim, 161n.; immanence 
of, 161; Kitchen, 158 

God-head, 99; see Dharmakaya 

Gods of Northern Buddhism, 207 

Gods, the, 116; 
Taoist, 121 

Good Law, 158 

Gordon, Mrs. E. A., 67 

Gotama Buddha, vii, ix, 3, 6, 7, 8, Io, 
I4, I5, 18, IQ, 23; 24, 25, 26, 34; 
30N., 37, 39, 48, 120; dialect of, 
33n.; festival of Tooth of, 80; 
historic, 99; interpretation of, 41; 
sinless, 38; worship of, 42 

Gotami, Lady, 57 

Gotiputta, 47 

Grace, religion of, 175 

Graeco-Bactrians, 47; ruler of, 53 

Graeco-Indians, 47 

Grammar and syntax, I11 

Gratitude, 176, 180 

Great Vehicle, 74 

Greek ideas, 50 

‘Guardians, Four,” 170, 176 

Guptas, 29 

Guru, 30, 204 

Guzokukai, 171; see Vows 

Gyogi, 167, 168, 189 


Confucian and 


Hachiman, 170 n. 

Hackmann, 161 n. 

Hakuin, 144 n. 

< Hall of the Great Hero,” 158, 159 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Hall of the Hundred Pillars, 29, 30 
Hall of Meditation, 159 
Hananim, 161 n,; see God 


Han dynasty, 122, 127; Eastern, 123; 
fall of the, 130 


Hangchow, 154 

Hannya, 159 

Hanuman, 193 

Harada, 167 n. 

Harivarman, 133 

Hayagriva, 201 

Health, bodily, 190 

Heaven, apocalyptic, 90 

Hegel, 149 

Heian, house of, 159; period, 151 

Heracleitus, 80 

Hieisan, 168, 171, 172, 180, 185 

High Mass, 208 

High Powers, six, 109; see Abhififia 

Himalayas, Holy, 74 

Hinayana, xiii, 107; Buddhism, 36, 
44, 45, 52; commentators, xvl; 
exclusive, 120; Narrow Sect or Way, 


xiv; orthodox scholasticism, 50; 
schools, xv, 223; teaching, xvi, 23, 
37, 49; view, 83 

Hindu, 19, 23; critics, 72n.; cult, 
135; doctrines, 69; lingams, 193; 
mind, 196; pantheon, 132; philos- 
ophy, 28, 101 

Hinduism, vii, 6, 8,9, 24, 102, 100, 
133; five great movements, 50; 
Saivite, 151, 192; ~Sakta, 104; 
schools of, 53; Tantric, 102 

Hiuen-Tsiang, 49, 73, 83, 102, 107, 
168; in Japan, Gensho, 168; life 
of, 74; Master of the Law, 75 

Hoang-ho, 123, 130 

Hodgson, 193 

Hokke-kyo, 166, 184 

Holy Land, 106 

Holy See, 182 

Homa sacrifice, 171, 172 

Honan-fu, 123 n.; see Loyang 

Hondo, 176 

Honen, 176, 177, 178, 180; Buddhist 
Francis, 174; school of, 172, 173; 
see Genki 

Honzon, 183, 184 


INDEX 


Horidji, 163 
Hosso sect, 187 
Hsi-An, 122 
Hua Yen, 132 
Huc, Abbé, 208 
Hume, 6 


Iconography, 193 

Iddhi, 20 

Idealism, 72, 187; Christian, 102; 
pantheistic, 101; pure, 82; sub- 
jective, 46; of the Vijfidanavada, 96 

-Idealistic schools, 44, 142; philosophy, 
160, 198, 199 

Ignorance, 20, 100, 124 

Images, 177, 207; carving, 174; 
“giving life” to, 168; worship of, 
RII, (122 

Immanent, 150 

Immortality, 175 

Impermanence, doctrine of, 127 

Incantations, 153 | 

India, 26, 39, 31, 47; 56, 68, I3t; 
Asokan, 110, 169, 198; Central, 122; 
of Kanishka, 169; the Sanghaéramas 
Ol Pe eouth, 0138. 550, 7 151: 
Vedic, 171 

Indra, 192 

Indriyas, 23; see Organs 

Ineffable, 98 

Insight, mystic, 22 

International Review of Missions, xn. 
2Ir nN. 

Intuition, 22, 137 

Tranian ideas, 50 

Iona, 135 

Isaiah, 182 

Islam, 73, 104; iconoclasm, 102 

Itivuttaka, 21, 24, 25, 33, 38, 42 


I-Tsing, 30, 73, 75 


Jainism, 56 

James, William, 7 

Japan, viii, 21, 23, 66, 69, 91, 92, 93, 
132, 145; Bon Matsuri of, 128; 
civilization of, 61 

Japanese scholars, 46; culture, 163 

Jataka, 39, 42, 52, 89, 90; tale of 
Sumedha, 91 

Jdtakas (myths), 118 


‘Jesus, 20, 


233 


Jatakaya, 83; Buddhism in, 156 

Jatikkhayo, 221 

Jatilas, 4 

Jerome, 131 

184; 
Nirmanakaya 

Jew, 86 n. 


Jewels, Three, 24, 116, 176; Seven, of 
a Cakravarti, 207 


Jhana (meditation), 20, 114; see also 
Dhyana 

Jhanas, 20, 96, 116 

Jikaku, 191 

Jina, 196 

Jinaputra, 196 

Jinas, 194; see Dhyani-Buddha 

Jiriki, 174 

Jitte, 191 

Jizo, shrine, 153 

Jfanasvari, 197 

Jodo Shu, 181, 196 

Jogyo Bosatsu, 182 

Johannine writings, 62, 67, 69 

Johnston, R. F., 49 n., 138 n., 217 n. 

Jojitsu school, 165, 187 

Jokkhang, 199 

Joshu, 144 

Journal of Religion, x n. 


Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 
xix, 30n., 48 n. 


Joyous endeavor, 132 


Kabul, 53 

Ka-gyur, 199 

Kaidan (morality platform), 184 
Kakemono, 135 

Kali, 193 

Kalitlas, poems of, 34 

Kalidasa, 58 


Kamma, action, 6, 10, 32; Law of, 53; 
see Energy 


Kamakura, 173 

Kammatthanas, forty, 116 

Kandahar, 134 

Kandy, 106, 119 

Kanishka, 44,47, 48-49, 56, 57) 69, 164 
Kanjin, 167 

K’an-po, abbots, 204 


historic, 99; see 


234 


Karika, 80, 103, 111 Nn. 

Kar-gyu, white Lamas, 202 

Karma, xv, xviii, 2, 10, 13, 18, I9N., 
26, 95, 150, 175 

Karuna, 82; (compassion), 
(pity), 91; see Mettam 


Kashgar Khotan, 69 
Kashmir, 107 

Kasina, ten, 116 
Kassapa, 47 

Kasyapa Matanga, 122,123 n.,137,138 
Kasyapa Parivaria, 79 n. 
Kathdvatihu, 42 
Kathina, 114, 118 
Kathmandu, 194 

Kegon school, 187 
Kenosis, theory of, 99 


Keum Kangsan, 156, 157; see Dia- 
mond Mountains 


Khandhas, 5, 6n. 

Khang-shih-lun, 133 

Khanti (forbearance), 91 

Kharakar, 130 

Khotan, 48, 122 

Khuddaka, Nikaya, 38, 55 

Khuddakapatha, 38 n. 

K’ien K’ang, 136 

King, of the Dhamma, 18 

Knowledge, 90; twofold, 93 

Ko-an, or Kung-ang, 145 

Koan-cheu-yinn, 126 

Ko-ans, 143 

K6b6 Daishi, 181, 185; see Kukai 

Kokurai, 156 

Kompén Chudo, 170 

Kongokai, 188; see Vajra Dhatu 

Kongo San, 157; see Keum Kangsan, 
Diamond Mountains 

Kongosatta, 152 n.; see Aizen 

Korea, 93, 129, 132, 135; sculptures 
of, 97 

Kosali, 33 

Kosambi, 33, 34 

KGyasan, 97, 129, 168, 185 

Krishna, 66, 99 n., 196 

Krishna-Vishnu, doctrine of, 51; con- 
ception of, 67 


116; 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Kshanti (patience), 91 

Kshattriya, 29 n. 

Ku Fa Hu, 128 

Ku-fa-lan, 122; see Gobharana 

Kikai, 154; (K6bd), 185, 188 

Kumfrajiva, 130, 131, 133, 
T51Nn., 165 

Kung-ang, 145; see Ko-an 

Kusalam (merit), 118 

Kushans, 47, 187 

Kusinagara, 61 

Kiya, 173 

Kwannon, 66, 164, 170, 174 

Kwanyin, 66, 126; the Lady, 126, 158 

Kwei Féng, 121, 141, 142 n. 

Kyoto, period, 173; universities in, 179 


134; 


Lady Poverty, 173 
Laity, 31,112) 113,/117, 110, 40% 


Lakshana, three, 93; parakalpita, 93; 
paratantra, 93; parinishpanna, 93 


Lalita Vistara, 45, 56 

Lama, 199; temples, 154; 
203, 204 

“‘Lamaism,” I99 n. 

Lanka, 31, 106 

Lankavatara Stira, 96, 137 

Lao-tze, 120, 144, 185 

Lapis lazuli, 86 

Laukika, 82 

Law, 25, 633 
versality of, 2 

Laws, “‘Three Esoteric,” 183 

Lay-adherents, 204; see Upasikas 

Lay-Buddhism, 166 

Lay-mind, 166 

Lay-people, 172 

Lenam, 17 

Leou Kia Tchang, 125 

Lévi, Sylvain, 33 n., 199 

Lhasa, 192, 197; painted rocks,¥201; 
stone edicts of, 198 

Liberality, 114, 116; see Dana 

Li Fang, 122 

Life, after death, 15; eternal, 62 

Lochana, 158 

Logia, 21, 38 

Logic, 6 


Grand, 


harvest, 13; uni- 


INDEX 


Logos, x 

Lohans, 21; see Arhats 

Lokaraksha, 125; see Leou Kia 
Tchang 


Lokesvardja, 50 

Lokottara, supramundane, 45, 82 

Lokottaravadino, 43, 44 

Lombard, Dr., 130 n. 

“Lotus,” xvili, xix, 28, 42, 65, 101, 
133, 142, 146, 147, 159, 181; Bud- 
dha of the, 67; Buddhology of the, 
66; commentary on the, 150; and 
Fourth Gospel, 67; of the Good 
Law, 128, 165; the jewel in the, 
160; and Johannine writings, 62; 
scripture, 51, 68, 169; teachings of, 
92, 183; of the True Law, 60, 66 

Love, 62 

Loyang, 120, 123, 125, 127, 128, 130, 
134 

Lumbini, 192 

Luther, 176, 179 

Lutheranism, 176 


Macdonell, Dr., 36 

Mddhyamaka, 94; karikds, 80; Sastra, 
78, 142n.; two Bodies of, 95; 
negativism of, 96 


Madhyamaka school, xv, xix, 72, 77, 
79, 82, 102, 146; idealist, 80; 
nihilism of, 83 

Madura, 109 

Magadha, 1; kingdom of, 29, 34 

Magadhi canon, 33; dialect, 40 

Magic, 52, 55, 56, 191, 199, 205; 
practices, 111, 112; works on, 74 

Mahadeva, 43 

Mahagandi, 119 

Maha Mangala Suita, 118 

Mahapadana, 36 

MahdapGari-Nirvana Sitras, 148 

Maharajah, of Sikkim, 210 

Mahasanghika, xix, 32, 43, 44; see 
“‘School of the Great Council” 

Mahiasthamprapta, 86, 170n., 195 

Mahatmas, 210 

Mahdvagga, 20., 4,5, 35 0. 

Mahavairéchana, 191 

Mahdvairochana Sambédhi Siitra, 186 

MahdGvastu, 32, 43, 45 


235 


Mahavihara, 107 

Mahdawamsa, 106, 107 

Mahay4na, xili, 37, 49, 66, 108, 109, 
160, 187, 198; apologists, 91; birth 
of, 47; books, 159; Buddhism, 44, 
46, 52; early schoolmen of, 70; 
first gateway, 78; Full, xviii, xix, 
Great Way, xiv, 48; halfway, xviii, 
xix; ‘‘heresies of,” 41; history of, 
73; iconography of, 193; idealistic 
schools, 50; of the ‘“‘Lotus,” 70; 
monk, 59n.; Paradise, xviii, xix, 
17, 23, 58, 93; philosophy of, 71; 
romances, 36; Sanskrit, 36, 46; 
siitras, 85; teaching, xv, xvi, xix; 
tendencies, 56; universalist, 120 

Mahayanasamparigraha-Sdastra, 94 

Mahayana Sraddhotpadasastra, 97 

Mahdyanasitralamkara, 97 

Mahinda, 31, 106, 135 

Maitreya, 194, 195; see Buddha 

Maitri, 48, 62, 66; Buddha, 60, 76, 
153, 161; (love), 91; see Buddha 

Majjhima Nikadya, 3n., 40., 12 n., 
23, 37, 47; see Sutias; Buddhology 


of, 37 
Manas, 94, 95 


Manasikara, “attention,” 12 

Mandaras, 188 

Manichees, 131, 191 

Manikka Vachagar, 109 

Majfijusri, 62, 65, 66, 85, 167, 197; 
(Monju), 171, 201 

Mano, 11 

Mano-pasada, 24 

Mantra, 97, 189; school, 134, 151 

Mantras, 188 

Mantrayana, xiv, xix 

Mara, 2; the Tempter, 37 

Mardananda, 156 

Marco Polo, 161 

Marcus Aurelius, 125 n. 

Marks, thirty-two, 57 

Martyr, Justin, 125 n. 

Masses for the dead, 92, 128, 153 

Materialism, 68 

Mauryas, 29; 
emperors, 47 

Meditation, 20, 90, 116, 118, 132, 146, 
148; (see Dhyana), 158, 160; (see 


capital of the, 29; 


236 


Jhana); aids to, 159; leading to 
visions, 85, 86 (see Samadhi); 
lonely, 64 

Meekness, 65, 124 

Megasthenes, 29 

Meghavana Park, 106 

Meiji era, 163 

Memory, of former existences, 117 

Menander, 53 

Merit,:i59))\82, 87, 1105, 117,! 136; 
doctrine of, 88, 118, 176; field of, 
129; mechanical conception, 112; 
reversible, 130; sharing of, 111; 
winning, 113; see Kusalam 


Metta, Mettam (compassion), 38, 91, 
116 


Metteya, 36, 76 (see Maitri), 92; 
Buddha, 88, 114 


Middle Path, see Rajagaha, 1, 12, 20, 
78, 148, 149, 187, 202 

Mihintale, 105, 114, 115 

Milaraspa, 205 

Milei Fé, Day of, 153 

Milinda, The Questions of King, 11; 
King, 53; see Menander 

Milinda Pantha, t7, 34, 42, 52, 53, 89 

-Militarism, 68 

Mind, 25, 72, 83; . culture; 143; 
Supreme, 93; one universal, 160 


Mingala thot, 118; see Maha Mangala 
Sutta 


Ming-Ti, 122 

Miroku, 158, 191 

Miryek, 161 

Missaka, 105 

Mission, Buddhist, 122 

Missionaries, 123, 153, 156, I6rn., 
166; Buddhist, 130; Christian, 126, 
155; historian, 131; Roman Catho- 
lic, 176 


Missionary spirit, 28, 105 
Mithras, 50 

Miyako, 169 

Moggallana, 2, 12, 128 
Moksha, 2 

Monasteries, mountain, 161 


Monastery, 112, 114; of the White 
Horse, 125; see-Pai MaSsti 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Monastic order, double standard of, 
46; life, 115; property, 107; see 
Pabbajja; teaching, 124 

Monasticism, 30, 168, 179; 
yana, 92 

Mongolia, 154 

Monism, xiv 

Monju, 171; see Mafjusri 

Monks, ix, xiii, 7, I15, 135, 156; 
Buddhist, 3; of Ceylon, 41; council 
of, 32; robes for, 114; rules for 
personal conduct, 35 n.; Sinhalese, 
92; school for, 171; vow of, 218 

Monotheism, 84 


Hina- 


Moon, 195 
Morality, 18, 116, 127; of Con- 
fucius, 127; dual, 92; funda- 


mentals of, 120; see Sila 
Mount Everest, 205 
Mount Hiei, 169; see Hieisan 
Mountains, sacred, 168 
Moutzu, 127 
Mudita (sympathy), 116 
Midra (gesture), 151, 171, 189, 190 
Muhammad, 163 
Mukocha, 156 
Mukti, 26; (salvation), 50 
Miiller, Max, 15 
Mutti, freedom, 17 
Mysore, 31 
Mysteries, see Three 
Mystical, experiences, 18, 19 
Mysticism, ix, 52, 55, 96, 205 
Mystic, insight, 22; ritual, 
truth, 201; union, 93 
Mystics, 17, 76, 93, 120, 143 


188; 


Naga king, 65 

Nagano, 156 

Nagarjuna, 70, 72, 73, 77, 78, 80, 131, 
134, 146, 177, 187, 202; fourteenth 
patriarch, 137 

Nagasena, 53, 54 

Nalanda, 70, 199; University of, 72, 
73, 70, 87, 96, 102; viharas of, 91 

Namu Amida Butsu, 174, 178 

Nanjio, Dr. Bunjiu, xix, 5 n. 

Nanking, 130 

Nara, 132, 163, 167, 169 


INDEX 


Nariman, G. K., 103 

Nature-worship, 52 

Nekkhamma (resignation), 91 

Nembutsu, 174n.; Yidzi, 173 

Neo-Christianity, 67 

Neo-Platonists, 50 

Neophytes, 204 

Nepal, 193, 194, 196 

Nestorian stone, 186 

Neumann, 134n.; see Translations 

New Evangel, 61 

New Testament, 60 

“New thought,” 155 

Nibbana, xv, xvi, xvii, 7, 9, 14, 17, 22, 
25, 98, 109, II0, 114, 116; nature 
of, 53; uncompounded, 72 


Nichiren, 60, 180, 182, 183; school of, 
172; Shu, 184 

Nidanas, 187 

Nidus, 94. 

Nietzsche, 184 

Nihilism, 78, 103 

Nihilist, 10, 80; interpretation, 16 n.; 
school, 142 

Nikayas, 35 

Ningpo, 135 

Nipunam, 221 

Nirmanakaya, 71, 72, 84, 95, 99, 196; 
see Jesus 

Nirvana, xv, Xvi, xvili, 16, 17, 19, 24, 
25, 26, 27, 03, 79, 83, 88, 92, 94, 
148, 185 

Nirvana Siitra, 147, 149 

Niti, 17, 57 

Noble Path, Eightfold, 15, 19, 20 

Nogi, General, 143 

Norm, 120 

Northern Bear, 158 

Nothingness, 80 

INiuketivaee., o121N., 135.1., 136, 
137 0 fAtD. 

Nuns, 204 

Nying-ma, 203 


Occult practices, 198 

Okakura, 151 n. 

Oldenburg, viii 

Om, 196 

Om manipadme hum, 160, 198, 203, 210 


237 


Omito Fo, 126, 151 

Omito-ky6, 190 

On Chung Ni, 157 

ee Thought” doctrine, 176; way, 
I 

Order, at 

Orders, 115 

Ordination, 24, 115; see Upasampada 

Organs (see Indriyas), 23 


Pabbajja, 115 

Paccéka Buddha, xvi, xvii, xviii, 169 

Padmasmabhava, 199, 201, 203 

Pagan, 110, III 

Pagoda, 114; 
ship of, 111 

Pai MaSsiti, 125 

Pali, books, 92, 98, 108; canon, 21, 
36, 125; degrees in, 114; language, 
52, 57, I11n., 117; scholarship, 
III; scripture, 148n.; sources, 46; 
text, 55; Tipitaka, 33 

Pali Text Society, xix, 8n., Io n. 

Pamirs, 69 

Pamsakulika, practice of, 118 

Pan-Buddhist movement, 155 

Pafifia, 21; Pali, 76; (wisdom), gr, 
108, 109 

Pantheism, vii, 4, 102, 139, 151, 180; 
idealistic, 84 

Papias and Polycarp, 125 n. 


Parable, 64; of the. burden, 4-5; of 
the Saw, 37 


Paradise, 64, 112, 
western, 85, 87 


Paradoxes, 143; see Ko-ans 
Param, 221 
Paramartha satya, 79, Ioon. 


Paramatthasacca (philosophical 
truth), 79 


Paramita (perfection), 76, 90 

Parinamana, dedication of merit, 59, 
89 1., OI 

Parivarta, see Parinamana 

Parsva, tenth patriarch, 137 

“Parthian Prince,” 125 

Pasdda, 24 

Patali-putra, 29, 33, 48n., 58, 71 

Path, of bliss, 174; of the sages, 174 

Patidanam, reversible merit, 38 


platform, 111; wor- 


173, 195, 205; 


2.38 


Patience, 90, 132 

Patimokkha (code of discipline), 117 
Patriarchs, 137, 159; six, 177 
Paul, Peter and, 123 n. 

Peace, Santi, 17 

Peking, 203 

Pelliot expedition, 68 
Perfections, eighty, 57 

Péri, 43 n. 

Persepolis, 30 

Persia, fall of, 47; embassies, 131 
Peshawar, 48 

Peter and Paul, 123 n. 

Phallic symbolism, 154 

Phallus, 201 


Phenomenal world, reality of, 44; 
denied, 80 

Philosophical, teaching, 19 

Philosophy, 22, 23 

Physician of the 
Sakyamuni 

Piety, filial, 128 

Pindapatika, 117 

Pirit service, 55; magic ceremony, 
118; reciting, 92 

Pitakas, Three, 49 

Piyadassi, 30 

“Plain of Milk, The,” 197 

Polunaruwa, 106 

Polytheism, 110, 192 

Pomosa, 159 

Potala, 209 

Poussin, Professor, 40, 56, 66, 81, 193 

Powers, High, 109 

Prabhutaratna, 64 

Prajfiad (wisdom), 
Hannya, 159 

Prajna-paramita-hridaya-Siuira, 76 

Prajna padramitd, 199n.; literature, 


70, 77, 81, 137 D., 193, 199 N; period, 
148; Sdsira, 147; sttras, 159 


Prakriti (nature), 50 
Pranidhana (vow), 50, 89 n. 
Pranidhanas, King of, 59 
Pratyéka Buddhas, 64, 187 


Prayers, Buddhist, 216; for the dead, 
219 
*“*Presidency,” 195 


Soul, 152; see 


E45) eyo 002 22° 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Primary school, 118 

“Psalms of the Brethren,” 34 
Psychologists, 18 

Ptolemy, of Egypt, 107 n. 
Punjab, 53 

Punna, 37, 47, 92; 135 


Pure Land, of Amida, 173, 180; of 
the Western Paradise, 85, 86, go 


Purusapura, 31, 47, 48 

Purusha (spirits), 50 

P’uti Tamo, 134; see Bodhidharma 
Puto Shan, 126 


Rahula, address to, 33 

Rajagaha, 1, 12, 71 

Rajagriha, 57 

Rajendralal Mitra, 193 

Ral-pa-chan, 200 

Rangoon, 112 

Rapson, 47 n. 

Rationalism, ix 

Ratnapani, 194 

Ratnasambhava, Jewel-born, 194 

Realism, vii, 78; pantheistic, 142, 
146, 170 

Realist, 10 

Reality, 44, 146; absolute and rela- 
tive, 64n., 71; One Great, 72, 78, 
82, 98; Supreme, 96 

Reason, 19 


Rebirth, 4n., 5n.; doctrine of, 9, 16, 
39, 45, 60, 86, 87; extinction of, 221 


Record of the Buddha Land, 131 

Red Caps, 202, 204 

Reformer, 26 

Reincarnation, 88 

Reindividualization, 12 

Reischauer, A. K., 134 n. 

Relativity, 78 

Renunciation, 32 

Repentance, 181 

Revelations, 203 

Reward of good and evil, ix 

Rhys Davids, C. A. F., 8n., 12 n., 33, 
37 0., 53, 79 

Richard, Timothy, 98, ror 


Righteousness, 181; City of, 53 
Rig Veda, 34, 84 


INDEX 


Ritual, of Buddhist temples, 68 
Roads, caravan, 122; trade, 123, 130 
Rockhill, 210 

Roshana, 132, 167 

Rouse and Bendall, 102 

Royal Library, 123 

Ruanweli Dagoba, 107 

Runes, 118 

Rupakaya, 57, 83 

Ruskin, 158 


Sacca, saccam (truthfulness), 91, 221 

Sacred Books of the East, xix, 14Nn., 
33, 350., 530., 570., 58n., don., 
85 n., 87n., 90Nn. 

Sacred Lore, 33 

Saddaniti, 111 n. 

Saddha (see Faith), 23 

Saddhda-hattho, 24 

Saddharma Pundarika, 47, 58, 60 

Sadhu, 119 

Saich6, 169, 170, 
(Dengy6), 172 

Saigyo, 174 n. 

Sakadagamino, xvii 

Sakas, 47 

Saketa, 58 

Sakra, 39 

Sakta Buddhism, xiv; Hinduism, 104; 
systems, 198 

Sakti, 197, 201, 206 

Saktis, 193 

Sakyamuni, vii, xiii, 1, 3, 10,15 n., 18, 
23, 26, 27, 29, 30, 35, 36, 38, 61, 66, 
71, 84, 99, 109, 120, 125, 132, 137, 
158; deification of, 109; enlighten- 
ment of, 37; Father, 66; historic, 
44; life of, 123; a man, 45; Middle 
Path of, 104; person of, 44; realist, 
80; shrine to, 170; Supreme Being, 
45; teachings of, 50, 55; tran- 
scendental view of, 43; vow of, 88 

Sakyas, Lion of the, 63 

Salvation, 176; by faith, 23, 52; 
gospel of, 3; (mukti), 26, 50; 
promise of, 166; universal, 128; 
way of, xvili, 44; see Visuddhi 
Magga 

Samadhi, 20, 21, 70, 109, 116; (medi- 
tation), 108 


185; 


171, 172, 


239 


Saman€ra, novice, 115, 204 
Samantabhadra, 66, 70, 194 


Sambhogakaya, 99, 196; see Christ; 
glorified body, 95 


Samkhara, 5 

Samkhya-Yoga, 2n.; philosophy, 56; 
rationalistic, 50 

Samkhya and Philosophy, 2 n. 

Samm4a-sambuddha, xvi 

Sammiti (everyday truth), 79 

Samsara, xvi, xviii, 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 10, 
32 0., 83, 94, 116, 148 

Samurai, Religion of the, 121 n., 135°n., 
143 

Samyutta Nikaya, 5 0., 37, 37 0. 

Sanchi, 48, 106 

San Chiao, 121 


Sanctification, State of, 16; process 
of, 16 


Sangha, xviii, 7, 22, 24, 34, 38, 105, 
107, 113, 115, 118, 134, 166, 184 

Sanghamitta, 31, 106 

Sangharaja, Sangharat, 113, 115 

Sanghardma, 74 

Safikhya, 74 

San-Lun sect, 134 

Safa, ‘‘perception,” 5 

Sanron school, 187 

San Sin, 158 

Sanskrit, 43, 57; origin, 46; texts, 45, 
T31, 153, 199 

Santi, peace, 17, 221 

Santideva, 102 

Saraha, 86 n. 

Sarana, Saranam, 17, 221 

Saraswati, 195 

Sariputta, 2 

Sarvastivada, 56 

Sarvastivadino, Sarvdstivadins, 4o n., 
43, 45 

Sas-kya, 202 

Sdstras, Three, 133; see Kumarajiva 

Sdtiya-siddhi-sastra, 133, 165 

Sautrantikas, 44, 133 

Savaka, stage of, xvii, xviii 

Savior, 23 

Schoolmen, 76, 79, 116 


240 


Schools, monastic, 17; eighteen, 21; 
Hosso, 168; Kegon, 168; two main, 
43; Mantra, 188; Tantric, 159 

Scriptures, 115 

Sculpture, 76, 164 

Scythians, 47, 48 

Sects, ‘‘Pure Land,” 181 

Self, 6, 7, 10, 18, 44, 133, 165; -exist- 
ent, 197; -realism, 21; -reliance, 
174; -sacrifice, 21; -surrender, 174; 
-torture, 66 n. 

Seoul, 162 

Sermon, Wheel-turning, 37 

Shaka, 181; the Lord, 182 

Shamikai, ordination, 171 

Shang Kwang, or Eka, 136 

Shang Ti (name of God), 126, 161 n.; 
see Hananim 

Shan-tao, 131; (Zend6), 177 

She Moteng, 122; _ see 
Matanga 

Shien-yeh, 130 

Shingon, 172, 180, 185, 190; apolo- 
getic of, 188; see Mantra Bud- 
dhism 

Shingon Shu, 196 

Shinran, 172, 176, 177, 179; creed of, 
180 

Shin sect, 177 

Shin Shu, 176, 177, 179, 180, 181 

Shintai (absolute truth), 175 

Shintd, 190; Rydbu, 167 

Shi-Tenn6ji, 165 

Shoman-gy6, 166 

Shému Tenné6, 167 

Shétoku Taishi, 163, 165, 166, 160, 


Kasyapa 


177 

y Shrine of the Four Heavenly Guardi- 
ans,” 165 

Shway Yoe, 211 n. 

Siam, 109, I13, 114, 119 

Siddhartha, 1 

Sikkim, Maharajah of, 192 

Sikshd-Sammucaya, 102 

Sikshananda, too n. 

Sila, 108,184; (morality), 91, 148, 172 

Silabadhra, 83 

Silla, 156 

Sins, five deadly, 87 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Sitibhittam, 17, 221 
Siva, 51, 132, 196 
Sivam, 221 


. Skandhas, 95, 187 


Smith, Vincent, 33, 73 n. 

Somdetchao, 115 

Sonari, 48 

Sorintd, 170 

Sotapanno, xvii 

Sdn, River, 29 

Soul, 6, 79; cosmic, 183, 187, 188 

Speculations, vain, 16 

Spirit, of the Mountain, 158; see 
San Sin 

Spirit-world, 111 

Spirits (purusha), 50 

Spiritual communion, 91 

Sravakas, 64, 169, 187 

Srimala, 166 

SriSrong De-Btsan, Srong-tsan-gampo, 
198, 199, 203, 206 

States, trance, 20, 52 

Sthaviras, 45, 54 

Sthaviravadino, 43 

Stein expedition, 68 

Strength, go 

Sttipa, 48, 64 

Stiipas, 30, 193 

Subhakara, 151 

Subjectivity, 100 

Substance, 6 

Suddhi, 221 

Sudhammapura, 111; see Thatén 

See problem of, 85; free from, 

Suicide, 66 n. 

Sukham (happiness), 7 

Sukhdvatt Vytiha, xix, 58, 60, 68, 70, 
78, 85, 87, 89, 100, 173, 176 

Sukhavati, picture of, 86 

Sukhothai, 113, 114 

Sulagandi, 119 

Sumedha, 90, 91; legend of, 88 

Sun, 195; god, 84; setting, 85 

Sunday schools, 179 

Sundo, 156 

Sungyiin, 134 


INDEX 


Siinya, relative and absolute reality, 
64n., 78 

Siinyaté (emptiness), 64, 194, 22T; 
philosophy, 65, 72; the Void, 78, 79 

Suryavamsa Rama, King, 113 

Siitra, 64, 66; of Forty-two Sayings, 
123, 125 

Sutrdlamkara, 56 

Siiras, 85, 199; Paradise, 70; Vai- 
pulya, 86; Sukhdvati, 87 

Sutta, 34, 35, 37,79 D., 116; Ambaitha, 
35; Brahmajdla, 35; Mahdniddana, 
35; Mahdpadana, 36; Nipdia, 33; 
Mahdparinibbana, 35; Samanna- 
phala, 35; Sigdlovada, 35; Tevijja, 
36; for laity, 39 

Suitas, 57, 118 

Suvarna-Bhimi, 31 

Suzuki, D. T., 61, 79 n., 98, 144, 145 

Svayambhi, 194, 196, 197 

Svayambhi-nath, 192, 194 

Sweeper, 57 

Symbolism, 207 

Sympathy, Mudita, 116 

Synonyms, 221 

System, ethical, 19 


Tai Seishi, 170, 174 

Tai Shan, 126 

Taigo, 159 

Taizdkai, 188; see Garbha Dhatu 

Takakusu, 43 

Takayama, 184 

Taksasila, see Taxila 

Tamil poet, 109 

Tamo, 135, 138, 159, 163 

Tamo Hsu Molun, 138 n. 

Tan-gyur, 200 

Tanha, xv, 5,9 

Tankhakkhaya, 17, 20, 221 

Tantra, 160, 191, 199 Nn. 

Tantras, 199 

Tantrayana doctrine, xv 

Tantric, xiv, 111, 128, 134; deities, 
201 

Tantrism, 192 

Tao, 120, 144 

Tao-an, 127 

Taoism, 121, 151 


241 


Taoists, 127, 186 

Tapas, 133 

Tara, 76, 206 

Tariki, 174 

Tartar invasion, 130 

Tashi-lhumpo, 203, 204 

Tatha (Truth), 146 

Tathagata, 9, 14, 62, 65, 101, 146, 183, 
194 

Tathagatagarbha, 94, 98, 141, 196 

Tathagata-guhyaka, 193 

Tathata, xv, 9, 97, 98, 102, 146, 149, 
222; absolute reality, 94 

Taxila, University of, 47, 52; peoples 
of, 69 

Teacher, xvili, 2, 40, 41 

Teaching, philosophical, 19 

Temple, 112 

Tendai, 176; Japanese, 169; philos- 
ophy of, 170; school, 187; temple, 
171 

Ten Fetters, 20, 14 n.; precepts, 123, 
quarters, 85; regions, 83; stages, 
of Buddhism, 186; vows, 171; see 
Shamikai 

Tenri-ky6, 190 

Tertullian, 127 

Ter-ma, 203 

Tevjja Suita, 25 

Thathanabaing, Superior, 115 

That6n, 111; see Sudhammapura 

Theism, ethical, 3 

Theology, 23; Pauline, 71; 
itarlan, 209 

Theosophists, 210 

Thera, Elder, 115, 204 

Theragatha, Theratherigdthd, 38n., 57 

Theravada, xiv, xvii, xix, 72, 105, 108, 
109; schools, go 

Theravadino, 43 

“Three Esoteric Laws,” 183 

Three Jewels, 24 


“Three Mysteries, of Body, Word, 
and Thought,” 186, 187 


Tibet, 102, 154, 192 

T’ien-t’ai, xv, 120, 145, 160 

Tipiiaka, Pali, 33, 41, 47, 108, 109, 111 

Tissa, 30, 42, 106; see Bikkhu 
Upagupta 


Trin- 


242 


Titsang (Kshitigarbha), 152, 158 

Tokiyori, 143 

Tokyo, viii n. 

Tolerance, 104, 192 

Tolstoi, 184 

Tominaga, 147 

Tooth, Relic, 89; Festival of the, 119; 
Temple of the, 106 


Trance-states, 20, 52 


‘Transcendent, 64 n., 
82 


Transcendental philosophy, 70; truth, 
187 
Transcendentalism, 72, 133 


Translations, 199; by Anshikao, 220; 
by 5S, Beal, 131 n., i134 n.5 “by the 
Bhikkhu Nanatiloka, 38n.; Bod- 
hiruci, 127; Chinese, 43, 57n., 58, 
131; of the Dhammapada, 38 n.; 
Edmunds, 38n.; H. Giles, 
131 n.; of Harivarman, 133; of the 
Itivuttaka, 38n.; of the Khud- 
dakapatha, 38n.; of Ku Fa Hu, 
128°) by, (Kuméarajiva, 1657)" J. 
Legge, 131n.; by S. Lévi, 97n.; 
by Dr. Lombard, 130n.; of the 
Majjhima, 37n.; by K. Nukariya, 
121n.; Paramartha, 1oon.; by A. 
Rémusat, 131 n.; Rhys Davids, 8 n., 
37 n., 38 n.;  Sikshananda, 100 
n.; Sinhalese, ro8n.; Therathe- 
rigdtha, 38n.; Tibetan, 43; War- 
ren’s,./ 97 9 38 Need a) Watters, 
131n.; by Father Wieger, 138 

‘Transmigration, 10 

Trikaya, 146, 193, 196 


150, 189; truth, 


Tripitaka, Catalogue of the Chinese, 
xix, 2, 15 N., 138n., 159; questions 
of, 75 


Triune nature of God, x 


Truth, absolute, 37; (shintai), 175; 
apparent (zokutai), 175; eternal, 
141; highest, paramartha satya, 98; 


practical, 82; stages of, 93; union 


with, 45 
Tsong Ka-pa, 200, 201 
Tsung Mi, 82, 121, 135, 141 
Tungshan, 144 
Turkestan, Chinese, 68 


Udyana, 134 
Ullambana Sitira, 128 


EPOCHS IN BUDDHIST HISTORY 


Unification, of consciousness, 116 


Union with all truth, 45; with eter- 
nal, 52 

Unity, of the universe, ix, 7, 91; of all 
life, x, 8; doctrine of, 30 

Universe, 36, 50, 71 


University of Taxila, 47; of Nalanda, 
73, 102; of Vikramasila, 104 


Unknowable, 72 

Unreal, 80, 91 

Unreality, 136, 187 

Upanishads, xvi, 17; monism of, 50 
Upasika, lay-adherent, xviii, 9, 31, 204 
Upasmapada, 115; see Ordination 
Upaya, 63 

Upekkha (equanimity), g1, 116 

Urga, 203 

Urna, 62 


Vaidehi, Queen Mother, 85 

Vaipulya period, 147 

Vaipulya Stitras, 86 

Vaira, wheel, 190 

Vairochana, the Sun Buddha, 71, 78, 
84, I5I, 152; 158, 107,170 1 Teo, 
194, 195 

Vairochana Sambodhi, 181 

Vaisali, 166 

Vaisesika, philosophy, 56 

Vajjian monks, 31, 32 

Vajra, 159; (chinderbolen 201, 207 

Vajrabhairava, 201 

Vajrabodhi, 151 

Vajradhara, 197, 200 

Vajra Dhatu, 188 

Vajra Dhatu Mandara, 189 

Vajrapani, 152, 194 

Vajraphurpa, 202 

Vajrasattva, 194 

Vardhana, Asoka, 29, 30, 31 

Varuna, 84 


Vasubandhu, 43, 49, 93, 177; twenty- 
first patriarch, 137 


Vatthagamani, 107 
Vedana, ‘‘feeling,” 5 
Vedanta, 51, 72, 137 
Vedas, 26, 74; Three, 52 
Vedic ritual, 153 


INDEX 


Vesali, 32 

Vessantara, 90, 118 

Vetulyas, 107 

Via negativa, 102 

Vibhajjhavadino, 43 

Vicikicca, 24 

Victorious One, 64 

Vidyas, Five, 49 

Viharas, 105 

Vijiianavada, 72,195; philosophy, 97; 
school, 102 

Vikramasila, University of, 104 

Vimalakirti, 166 

Vimutti, 221 

Vinayd, 32, 33, 34, 35 0., 115, 118, 199 

Vififidna, ‘‘consciousness,” 5 

Virago, 221 

Viriya (exertion), 91 

Virtue, 90 

Vishnu, 51, 58, 196 

Vision, apocalyptic, 132; 
Poverty, 173 

Visuddhi Magga, 89 n., 108, 111, 116 

Visvapani, 194 

Vivekananda, 138 

Void, 94, 160; doctrine of the, 133; 
(sinyata), 194 

Vows, ten, 171; 
fiityas 17 T: 
king of, 216 

Vulture, Peak of the, 2, 4, 58, 61, 62, 
85, 138, 183 

Vyakarana, 59 n. 


of Lady 


two hundred and 
thirty-six, 204; the 


Waddell, 199, 202, 205, 208 

Waiho River, 130 

Wang Yang Ming, 135 

Warren, H. C., 37 n., 39 

Wasan, or hymns, 68, 176, 177 

Wats, 113 

Way, the new, 2, 21, 27, 124; the 
One, 92; of Salvation, 44 

Western Paradise, 58, 90, 100, 126, 160 

“‘Wheel of the Law,” 42 


243 


‘Wheel of Life,” 209 

White Horse, Monastery of the, 125 

Wieger, Father, 133, 138 

Will, 94; see Manas 

Winternitz, 33, 43 n., 97 n. 

pecan, Essence of Transcendental, 
7 

Works, xviii 

World, phenomenal, 90, 142 

Worship, 112 

Wu-ti, Emperor, 136, 138, 169 


Yamabe, Reverend S., 178 n. 
Yamantaka, 201 

Yao Shih F6, 152 

Yarkand, 69 

Yellow Cap, 197 

Yellow Hats, 201, 203 

Yellow Robe, Order of the, ix, 114, 117 
Yi-dam, 201 


Yoga, 20, 45; (contemplation), 52, 
205; practice of, 96, 116 

Yoga calm, 19 

Yogacara, xiv, 72, 97, 98, 193, 198; 
school, xv, xix, 52, 93, 95, 151, 199; 
subjective idealism of, 83 


Yogdacarabhiimi Sastra, 97 
Yogakkhema, 221 
Yogambara, 197 
Yoritomo, 172 n. 


Yidzi Nembutsu, 173; 
Society 


Yuehchi, 122 
Yuen Jan Lun, 121 0., 142 Nn. 
Yuima gyd, 166 


see Amida 


Zazen, 145 
Zeal, 132 


Zen, 21, 139, 144; masters, 143; see 
Chan, and Dhyana 


Zen-gaku-hd-ten, 141 D. 
Zendé, 178 
Zoroastrians, 131 


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